Morgentaler does not deserve honour

Editor, The News:

What a beautiful Canada Day it was: the warm weather, the parades with flags flying, balloons everywhere, children with painted faces, fireworks. What a proud day to be a Canadian!

Then it happened. I was listening to the radio and heard that Dr. Henry Morgentaler, Canada’s most prominent abortionist, had been appointed to Canada’s highest honour, the Order of Canada.

I felt like I had been punched in the gut. The pride I had been feeling moments before turned instantly into shame. How can a country such as Canada, which champions the rights of the oppressed and helpless throughout the world, give its highest honour to one who has made it his life’s work to take the lives of those who are totally defenseless?

When did abortion become a women’s health issue? The last time I checked, it still took a man and a woman to make a baby, and half of all the unborn aborted were male.

To so honour such a man makes a statement to the rest of the world. It shows what Canada has become. We have become a country that is ashamed of our heritage. We have become a country that is so afraid of offending anyone that we honour almost anything. We have become a country that is embarrassed to stand on our principles.

It is time to act. The government needs to enact legislation to tightly define the narrow circumstances under which abortion can be tolerated, and narrow they should be.

It has been 20 years since the restrictions on abortions were struck down by the Supreme Court. Since then, more than two million unborn have been terminated in Canada alone.

Abortion on demand should not and cannot be tolerated by a civilized society. I challenge all Canadians to peacefully oppose this outrageous honour by contacting their member of Parliament and the governor general.

Let us show our leaders what it really means to be a Canadian, as many of them seem to have forgotten.

 Colin Reimer

Abbotsford