Andrew Coyne ...

His column today: The idea we can’t debate abortion is unworthy of a democratic country.

Like MP Stephen Woodworth, Coyne is patently disingenuous. His seeks to move the abortion debate back into the legislative sphere while pretending that is where policy is best shaped. He even drops the same rhetorical guantlet as Woodworth: 

"But it is dishonest to pretend this means the matter has been settled, now and forever, or that dissenters from the status quo are, by definition, extremists. Any honest defence of the status quo must concede:..."

Contrast to Woodworth yesterday: 

"What would the motion do? Let us be honest and not mislead anybody who is watching today. ...  Why does it matter that such laws are crafted with great care and with utmost honesty? ...  It is sad that it is not obvious why our law defining a human being must absolutely be an honest law ... Members should not concern themselves with fearful imaginings but look solely at the dishonesty of subsection 223(1). "

Of course speakers who project dishonesty onto their opponents in debate never get far. That game seeds incivility and is the refuge of the weak. 

I find it sad that Coyne never betrays his own reasons for desiring a legislative approach to abortion.  Yet while he speaks from a podium instead of his heart it would be helpful if he would at least be factual.  He wrote that Woodworth's motion was an attempt to break through the taboo on debating abortion. In fact Rod Bruinooge already did that successfully with his failed Private Member's bill Roxanne's Law.  A political journalist of Coyne's stature should never sacrifice context to literary cause.  Our federal parliamentarians of all political stripes will not allow themselves to be roped in by extremist abortion politics of the left OR right because the taboo is already dead. Fortunately the Prime Minister made it clear that Woodworth's 'unvotable' motion isn't up to snuff. 

Coyne has been flogging this subject since 2008: "The Abortion Debate Canada is Afraid to Have" - Maclean's.   That was the year Morgentaler was awarded the Order of Canada,  a provocation the left should by now regret. 

Rod Bruinooge Explains Roxanne's Law from Roxanne's Law on Vimeo.