Abortion updates. (News in Brief).

Ottawa -- Despite Jean Chretien's famous claim that in Canada there is "social peace," abortion is an issue that just won't go away. Last fall, Canadian Alliance MP Garry Breitkreuz challenged Health Minister Anne McLellan in the Commons to produce evidence of her claim that abortions are medically necessary. So far, no evidence has been shown. Another opposition MP, Jim Pankiw, has called for a referendum on defunding the procedure. Neither of their motions made headway in the Liberal-dominated Commons.

Abortionist Henry Morgentaler held court for the media in Fredericton, N.B., to champion his Fredericton abortion clinic and to announce his plans for taking the N.B. government to court to force it to fund abortions committed at his "clinic" there. He accused the government of being "sexist, male-chauvinistic" and condemned Catholic doctors who refuse to sign certificates of referral for abortion (New Freeman).

Linda Williamson, the Toronto Sun's pro-abortion deputy editor, recently slammed the NDP governments of Manitoba and Saskatchewan for adhering so strictly to their party's "no two-tier medicine" principles that they too refuse to cover the cost of abortion in the Morgentaler Winnipeg and Regina abortion mills. Williamson appeared to be quite impressed by Morgentaler's magnanimous offer to cut his fees in half to facilitate the funding ("Abortion is threatened by our own beloved medicare," Jan. 26/03).

James Kopp has disappointed the media by choosing trial by judge over a trial by jury. Toronto Sun columnist Michele Mandel, for example, in an article headed "No remorse, sniper crows," was obviously quite sceptical about Kopp's claim that he intended only to wound Barnett Slepian. Kopp, she opined, may never face charges in Canada--but he must have had accomplices, perhaps even Canadians (Mar. 16/03).