A not-so-private matter of abortion
Abortion costs taxpayers more than you think.
John Williamson - January 31, 2008
The assertion about abortion being a private matter between a woman and her doctor has been made a lot this week, mostly by proponents of the Supreme Court ruling that struck down Canada's abortion law 20 years ago. It's a clever jingle, but not entirely true. At least not as far as taxpayers are concerned.
Canada spends generously on things like senior pensions, education and health care. Despite the obvious public support for core spending, Canadian voters remain less willing to fund programs they believe are not providing positive outcomes or helping people in a constructive way.
The most obvious example of this is welfare. With the backing of taxpayers, governments provide a basic minimum amount, recognizing overly rich payments encourage dependence and disincentives to work. One province even offered one-way bus tickets to neighbouring provinces for people unwilling to work. Another was more progressive and enacted a workfare program. It requires recipients to participate in mandatory work activities to ensure the social safety net does not become a comfortable hammock.
While few Canadians are clamouring for legislative restrictions on abortion, it is doubtful those same voters would support government promoting it. Hence, the pro-abortion lobby employs language that implies the state has little to do with it. They say it's about the freedom to choose, an individual's choice and the state has no business interfering in a private decision. It's a position that satisfies small-government libertarians as well as those claiming to be both fiscally conservative and socially liberal. Yet, government is more involved in promoting abortion than Canadians realize.
We're familiar with provincial funding of abortion (with the exception of New Brunswick). Of course, it's not terribly expensive--it is estimated that $50-million a year is spent on the medical procedure from a $100-billion public health budget. Ultimately, it is for provincial legislatures to decide whether or not to fund it under Medicare.
But what might Canadians say about the federal government offering unemployment benefits to women who have an abortion? It is worth asking because Ottawa's employment insurance (EI) program does just that.
According to EI guidelines, when a pregnancy is terminated within the first 19 weeks it is considered an illness and benefits can be collected. Ottawa does not distinguish between a miscarriage and an abortion. If an abortion occurs in the 20th week or later, benefits are paid out under the EI maternity program despite there being no mother or child. According to the federal government, the "birth mother" need only sign "a statement declaring the expected due or actual date of birth." Illness and maternity benefits are paid for up to three and a half months.
Government support doesn't end there. Last year, the federal government's Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) quietly approved funding to the United Kingdom-based International Planned Parenthood Federation. This special interest organization will collect $18-million over four years from Canadian taxpayers to promote its agenda.
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