Honourable Stephen Harper, Prime Minister
Office of the Prime Minister                                                                          225 Cambridge Cresc.
80 Wellington Street                                                                                   Fredericton, NB
Ottawa, Ont.  K1A 0A2                                                                                E3B 4P1

June 28, 2009

Honourable Prime Minister Harper, 

I would like to raise a few points regarding your ongoing insistence that the abortion debate not be opened during your premiership. Your stance, I respectfully submit, is an unreasonable one, for the following reason. It should be of concern to you, as well as to every member of Parliament that an abortion epidemic - which terminates the lives of countless thousands unborn babies in government controlled hospitals - has been raging for years. This is unquestionably a major health problem that is still being willfully ignored by Canadian legislators.

Before you recoil at the idea that you would deliberately ignore any medical problem of this massive nature and dismiss my intervention, please let me explain my legitimate concern. As you know, the only abortions allowed in hospitals under the Canada Health Act are those done for “medically necessary” reasons. That sounds clear enough to me: there must be a medically necessary reason for aborting any child. I can only presume, therefore, that the many thousands of abortions performed each year over past decades were justified on medical grounds. 

Honourable Prime Minister, Canada is indeed then dealing with a pandemic of catastrophic proportions if Parliament is to accept the standards the Canada Health Act spells out for allowing abortion in hospitals. Just look at the extent of this disease affecting women: almost three out of every ten pregnancies currently need to be terminated on medical grounds!!  Where are the inquiries, Royal Commissions, etc. on this? Where is the National Action Committee on the Status of Women on this devastating women`s problem? Where? The same place it was some years ago when Marilyn Wilson, former executive director of the Canadian Abortion Rights Action League, had this to say in a meeting at the House of Commons: “Women who seek abortions do so for socio-economic reasons.” And supposedly law-abiding MPs sat silently on their duff after this unqualified admission that abortion need NOT be considered a medical necessity! 

Your mandate to respect the Canada Health Act demands that the debate on abortion be reopened to thoroughly investigate what the Canada Department of Health would definitely qualify as a brutal epidemic. 

Sincerely yours, 

Thaddée Renault

 Copies:  Hon. Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of Health

               Hon. Keith, Ashfield, Minister of State