On my way to class on Oct. 2, I was met with a surprise. I noticed someone had taken the time to write messages along the sidewalk on campus in chalk.
I saw about eight of these that said such things as “Abortion Hurts Women #Prolife” and “Abortion Is Murder.”
About two hours later on my journey back, I realized someone else had taken chalk of their own and altered some of the writings.
This showed me what I already knew — that hot button topics like this are on people’s minds, regardless of how many politicians insist the issue is settled.
Personally, this is my defining issue. I can never support a candidate who professes to be pro-choice over one who’s pro-life.
As time goes on and I get to debate more, I become more certain that my pro-life stance is the right one.
I’ve heard all of the arguments and it’s becoming increasingly frustrating to watch the clichés dominate the public discourse.
To begin, let’s drop the myths. Abortion is not explicitly legal in Canada. In fact, we are the only Western nation without a law regarding abortion.
When people claim that our Supreme Court deems it as a right, they are blatantly wrong.
With that in mind, my argument is simple. Whatever a woman is carrying inside of her, we know it’s living; if it’s living that means it’s a life.
We also know that this life has unique and distinctly human DNA, therefore making it a human being.
Finally, because they are human, they are protected under section seven of our Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
So here’s where the criticism begins.
First of all, we have people who say no one truly knows when life begins.
United States President Barack Obama claimed something similar in 2008 when asked.
He said, “Answering that question with specificity is above my pay grade.”
This argument can easily be dismissed on the grounds that if we don’t know when life begins, then allowing abortion to proceed is reckless, because we could be killing people and not even know it.
Following that is the inevitable question pro-choice advocates ask, “What happens if the woman gets raped or if her life is at risk from pregnancy?”
This is a very reasonable question, but then you realize the people asking are completely disingenuous.
These grisly scenarios make up less than one per cent of abortions, and if you reply saying you would allow abortion in those cases, the pro-choice side quickly backtracks to saying they still want abortion legal.
It’s nothing more than a ploy to make the pro-life side look extreme.
Another clichéd argument comes from the idea that if the baby is born into a poor family, it will live a terrible life.
But last time I checked, even poor people are glad they’re alive, not wishing they were killed.
And we’re talking about first-world Canada, where there’s a surplus of people wanting to adopt and would be more than happy to have a baby.
No one should have the right to judge the potential quality of someone’s life and use that as justification to kill him or her.
There’s also a rampantly sexist argument some like to use in order to shut down the pro-life side — that men for some reason don’t have the privilege to have an opinion.
Ignoring the fact that massive amounts of pro-life support comes from women, just imagine if Justin Trudeau said to someone, “I’m addressing men’s issues. You’re a woman and you’re not qualified for this discussion.” He’d rightfully be called out for such a dreadfully sexist remark.
We’re Canadians, and no voice should ever be silenced for reasons of sex, race, class or religion.
Abortion is an appalling practice that needs to be stopped. Everyone has decisions, but ending an innocent life shouldn’t be one of them.
In most cases, women don’t just suddenly become pregnant. Choices are made leading up to conception that both parents should be responsible for.
Canada is a caring country of strong social cohesion and safety nets. It’s time we do the right thing.
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