June 3-6, 2021

Don’t Kid Yourself

(or "You Can’t Select the Sex of a Blob")

you say it’s all about your choice, most will agree

it’s your right to do what you wish with your body

but that’s just the problem, isn’t it, there’s a body

and the body you’re doing things to isn’t your own

you know it, I know it, even our leadership knows it

and prove it by voting down restrictions of any kind

even those that would ban sex-selective abortion

come on now, that has GOT to tell us something

if their sex is known then they’re already a person

oh God, have mercy on us

if this were your own body how could you choose

to love a child of one sex or hate a thing of another

the baby could always and only be inevitably female

if this were your body there could be no other choice

to know a baby's sex demands its unique humanity

the idea of sex-selection is but wicked self-deception

inexcusable words excusing a despicable selfishness

if you’re going to choose one over the other

you’ve proved you’ve already chosen murder

have mercy on us, oh God, for we are despicable

After reading this article in the National Post this morning

OTTAWA — A private member’s bill from a Conservative MP to ban sex-selection abortions was voted down in the House of Commons on Wednesday by a margin of 248 to 82, but about two thirds of the Conservative caucus voted in favour of it.

Conservative leader Erin O’Toole voted against the bill, but 81 of 119 Conservative MPs voted in favour. The only other “yes” vote was from independent MP Derek Sloan, the former Conservative leadership candidate who was ejected from the caucus in January.

Bill C-233, put forward by Saskatchewan MP Cathay Wagantall, would have made it a crime “for a medical practitioner to perform an abortion knowing that the abortion is sought solely on the grounds of the child’s genetic sex.”

The bill was never likely to pass Parliament, given opposition from the Liberals, Bloc Quebecois, NDP and Green Party, who argued the bill is effectively a stealth move to bring in abortion restrictions. But private member’s bills on abortion have long been a tricky issue for Conservative leaders to stickhandle, as the party’s policy is to always allow free votes on “issues of moral conscience.”

When the bill first came up for debate in April, O’Toole said he opposed it but would not try to whip the vote in his caucus. “I’m pro choice and I will be voting against this private member’s bill,” he said.

O’Toole’s management of issues such as abortion and gay rights is under close scrutiny in part because he strategically courted the social conservative wing of the party during last summer’s leadership race. Although O’Toole said he was personally pro-choice, his campaign deliberately drew a distinction with his rival Peter MacKay by promising greater freedom to social conservatives in the party on abortion votes.

When Sloan and Leslyn Lewis — the two outspoken social conservatives in the leadership race — were eliminated on the ranked ballot, their support largely flowed to O’Toole and gave him the victory over MacKay.

Since being elected leader, O’Toole has changed his messaging strategy and distanced himself more clearly from social conservative positions. On Monday, he posted a video for Pride month declaring himself an ally of the LGBTQ2 community and said he would always fight against “homophobia, transphobia, and biphobia.”

The horrible irony is that the Canadian government has proclaimed June to be “Pride Month” in celebration of sexual diversity and whether or not you agree with that, it can still choose, by a margin of 248 to 82, not to ban sex-selective abortion. The government may stand in firm opposition against “homophobia, transphobia, and biphobia” but it seems to have no trouble supporting sex-selective murder.

Have mercy on us, oh God, for we are despicable.