Abortion a Grit election distraction

The hypocrisy of the Liberals' attempt to turn abortion into a campaign issue is shameful--but understandable.

In the wake of the disastrous HST, their ecofee mess and their horrendous eHealth boondoggle, the Liberals know they can't run on a record of good government. Because they don't have one.

What's left is the tried and true Grit strategy of implying the Tories have a hidden agenda.

Their latest hideous attempt to smear PC Leader Tim Hudak is not only the depths of political cynicism, it reeks of a government so desperate to divert attention from its record, it'll scrape their shoes for whatever muck they can find.

Fair enough, Hudak flubbed his answer on Monday, when he was asked if he'd signed a petition calling for an end to abortion funding.

"I may have signed a petition from my riding in that respect, but listen, let me be clear, we are not re-opening this debate," he said.

Abortion is a personal issue that individuals view through their own moral, ethical and religious prisms. And, yes, it's possible for a political leader to hold the personal view abortion is wrong while publicly supporting his party's policy that abortion should be funded.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has always done so.

And while Premier Dalton McGuinty said Tuesday he thinks voters are looking for "clarity," on abortion, he's been less than clear himself over the years. McGuinty answered a 1995 Campaign Life Coalition questionnaire saying life begins at conception. Surely if one believes that, it logically follows one believes terminating a pregnancy is killing a life.

McGuinty's father was pro-life and the premier, a Catholic whose wife teaches in the Catholic school system and whose children attended Catholic schools, can hardly be totally averse to the Catholic church's teaching on abortion.

This week, though, he was prodding Hudak over the petition.

"I think as aspiring premiers, all the party leaders owe clarity to voters, on that issue in particular," he told reporters.

What's revolting is the Liberals' deliberate attempt to take what is an emotional personal issue and turn it into a political football.

Heck, some Liberal MPPs are pro-life and support the de-funding of abortions--and certainly I respect that view.

As someone who gave birth to a very premature baby, who saw tiny babies struggling for life, I know life doesn't begin after 40 weeks of gestation. But I also remember a time when women's lives could be destroyed by unwanted pregnancies, or their health put at risk by botched backstreet abortions.

There's no black and white on this issue. Some believe abortion is murder. Others say it can be justifiable homicide.

Either way, it predominantly affects only women and should concern only two people-- a woman and her doctor.

That's why it's appalling that the men in the Liberal party (Finance Minister Dwight Duncan also opined on it this week), who'll never have to decide on terminating a pregnancy, would casually use it as a wedge issue to win votes.

Last election was all about faith schools. The Liberals want to make this one about abortion.

It's a nasty, mean-spirited campaign tactic. But it works.

You want to talk hidden agenda? What about the HST? Soaring hydro bills?

Eco fees? Remember that debate last election? No you don't. Because the Grits didn't tell us about them. Guess with hidden agendas you have to have one to know one.