Archbishop: Allan Rock 'makes my blood boil'
Marcel Gervais attacks minister's quest for 'fetid peace' on abortion; Rock supports 'woman's right to choose'
Bob Harvey--The Ottawa Citizen --Jan.19, 2001
Ottawa Archbishop Marcel Gervais says Roman Catholic voters "should raise a stink" about government funding of abortion every time they can.
He said yesterday "it makes my blood boil" to think that federal Health Minister Allan Rock, a Catholic, is telling provinces they must fund abortions at private clinics, yet is refusing funding for private clinics providing other procedures, such as magnetic resonance imaging.
"The fact that we do not have a law to protect the rights of the unborn ... should not lead us to quietly accept abortion as a right, as a medically necessary procedure. Life is at issue here," Archbishop Gervais said.
Catherine Lappe, senior adviser to Mr. Rock, said "the minister does support a woman's right to choose, but irrespective of that, the provinces have determined that abortions are medically necessary, and the minister has responsibility under the Canada Health Act to ensure that medically necessary services are provided under provincial health care plans."
The archbishop said his church teaches that abortion is an intrinsic evil, yet there is not one major political party in Canada that is clearly anti-abortion, even though almost half of all Canadians identify themselves as Roman Catholics.
All the political parties want on the abortion issue "is peace, even if it is fetid peace," said the archbishop, who declared Jan. 28 "Pro-Life Sunday" in his archdiocese. He sending out copies of a Jan. 10 letter from the Catholic Organization for Life and Family to all area parishes.
He has asked parish priests to make the contents of the letter known to parishioners.
In that letter, Bishop Bertrand Blanchet of Rimouski says Mr. Rock's threat to penalize Quebec, New Brunswick, Manitoba and Prince Edward Island for not funding abortions at private clinics "is particularly offensive to those who appreciate that abortion is unique in that it involves not only the health of the mother, but the very life of another human being.
"Abortion is a tragic and permanent solution for both the mother and the child to moral, social and economic dilemmas," Bishop Blanchet writes.
Archbishop Gervais said the letter has been totally ignored by Canada's news media.
"I don't know why it has been ignored, but it goes along with the public perception that abortion is a right and the health care system has to pay for them all," he said. "This is a democratic society. It is not a society that is out to promote abortion."
He said the government should be presenting programs that support the right of a woman to have a child even when she is without the means to do so. The archbishop said Catholic politicians like Mr. Rock and Prime Minister Jean Chretien feel bound to support their parties' policies, but he does not believe those policies reflect their own opinions on abortion.
"Catholic politicians should be making their private opinions public. Religion is not a private affair. It is a public issue," he said.
Ms. Lappe said the federal government has made no decision on penalizing provinces that refuse to pay for abortions at private clinics, or on federal funding of private clinics offering MRIs that are used in the diagnosis of cancer and other medical conditions. |
