Today marks the 20th anniversary of Her Majesty the Queen vs. Henry Morgentaler.

This landmark Supreme Court decision struck down Canada's remaining abortion law and since it was not replaced, Canada has been one of the most abortion-permissive countries in the world. Canadian law allows abortion to take place anytime during pregnancy. Even after the baby’s heart starts beating. Even after the arms and legs are formed. Even after the baby can suck its thumb, feel pain, and survive outside the womb. No medical reason needed. To my "pro-choice" friends: A foetus is a living human being from the moment of conception. This is not a religious opinion. This is a scientific fact. As for whether or not it is a "person", that is a matter of opinion, but whenever we excluded certain humans from the definition of person (Jews, African-Americans, Aboriginals, etc.), we have seen horrible consequences. Shall we make the same mistake again? The point is: A foetus is a living human being. It is wrong to kill a human being. Abortion does just this. Therefore, abortion is wrong. This is not about imposing patriarchal laws on women's bodies or anything like that. This is about telling women that abortion is wrong because they would be killing their own babies. To my pro-life friends:

• That is the key message that we need to get across: "Abortion means killing your own baby." I beleive that if women truly realized this they would probably not have an abortion.
• Most people probably disagree with us on this point. They beleive that a foetus is not yet a "person", is too much unlike a born baby, etc.
• We need to realize that the law isn't the be-all, end-all. I saw this feature in Time that showed how countries where abortion is illegal do not have much lower abortion rates than countries where it is legal. We really need to reach out and change the hearts of all women as well as the heart of our society (as reflected in its laws). Change public opinion and public policy will follow.
• We need to accept concessions (for now). Perhaps it is too early to change the law so that all abortion is banned except to save the life of the mother but we could pass late-term abortion laws, etc. This might have a greater chance of working because at this stage, the foetus looks a lot like a baby, and a lot of its brain is developed so it is pretty hard for our opponents to argue that it is not a person.
• We need to notice when we're shooting ourselves in the foot. A lot of abortion opponents are Catholic (like myself). A disproportionate amount of abortions are performed on Catholic women. Why? It could be because fornication is a sin and Catholic girls don't want to bring shame upon themselves or their family so they destroy the "evidence". We've really got to remember the old adage: Love the sinner, hate the sin. And remember to encourage reconciliation but not be condemning and support pregnant women, don't scorn them! Also, abortion is a mortal sin, but so is contraception. Many women use abortion as "just another method of birth control". Remember it IS different. If people are going to fornicate, if the woman gets pregnant then gets an abortion, it is worse than if they used contraception.

To my friends who are "personally against abortion but still believe it is a woman's right": Where is the disconnect?

• Do you believe that abortion is not killing one's own child?
  • Do you beleive that a foetus is not a living human being?
  • Do you beleive that it is a living human being but is not developed enough to deserve rights. If so, is there a stage of pregnancy between conception and birth where it is developed enough to deserve rights?
• Why are you "personally against abortion" anyway?
• Do you believe that it is OK to kill one's child (in certain circumstances)?
  • REALLY?!!

Anyway, on this anniversary of the legalization of abortion in Canada, please take time to remember and pray for the almost 2 Million Canadians who have lost their lives. Thank you.