Thirty-five years of Roe v. Wade and 20 years of R. v. Morgentaler

Heather Mallick writes a piece today on the fact that the legacy of these court decisions is better sex.......Thirty-five years of Roe v. Wade and 20 years of R. v. Morgentaler have at least cut down on the number of women dying from fouled-up abortions done with bleach, pesticide, coat hangers, knives and blows to the belly. Women still die this way in North America, depending on the relative wealth of the woman, and millions have died around the world.

But there is less of it now.

I'm not writing about the Morgentaler decision with smugness. No government, Liberal or Conservative, has punished P.E.I. or New Brunswick for violating the Health Act and making it almost impossible for poor women to obtain abortions.

If you ever yearn for the mucky sensation of sticky fingers crawling down your spine, go to Hansard and read MPs discussing Alberta Tory Ken Epp’s proposed Unborn Victims of Crime Act, due for a House vote in March. The private member's (what an appropriate name) bill means murderers should get a lower prison sentence for killing a regular woman than for killing a pregnant woman. .....

....By extension, there would then exist an elaborate grading system for the value of women's bodies, fetus-containing women being the most valued, old women the least.

More here...