Dr Somerville on the fetus

My teacher and friend Dr. Margaret Somerville corrects some feminist myths about the fetus.


Fetus and woman are separate entities
Letter
Published: 22 minutes ago
Re: "Bill is backdoor effort to stop abortion: MDs" (Gazette, April 16).
I would like to clarify the statement that "on Jan. 28, 1988, the Supreme Court struck down Section 251 of the Criminal Code that made abortion illegal, ruling that a woman and her fetus are considered a single physical person."
The court did rule that a fetus is not a person for the purposes of attributing Charter rights to it, but that was not the primary basis of its decision that the law governing abortion was unconstitutional. Rather, it held the abortion law was unconstitutional because a woman who needed an abortion to protect her life or health might not have access to a legal abortion if she had no access to a "therapeutic abortion committee."
That potential inaccessibility contravened women's rights to life and to personal security and was therefore struck down.
All Supreme Court judges, however, including Madame Justice Bertha Wilson, the strongly pro-choice, women's rights advocate, ruled that society has a legitimate interest in the fetus and that Parliament has the power to pass laws regulating abortion, provided that it complies with the Charter.
The statement that "a woman and her fetus are considered a single physical person" is used heavily by pro-choice advocates regarding Bill C-484. But it relies on a position that is scientifically incorrect; the fetus is not the same physical entity as the woman.
Rather than bolstering their case, it seems to me that this "selective articulation" or misrepresentation of the law to support their position shows that their case is not a strong one, including ethically.
Margaret Somerville
Montreal