The abortion issue
==================

* Will Johnston

Your homey analogy of abortion as a patchwork quilt — a warm, comforting and maternal object if ever there was one — furthers the dishonourable tradition of euphemizing the medicalized killing of small human beings.1 Most appealing, this is a quilt with holes — patching, perhaps before the fire with a kettle on for tea, is needed. Not easily would the reader suspect that an oppressive abortion-rights orthodoxy, with a paranoid determination to avoid straight talk about what abortion really is, seeks to stifle even the few pathetic remnants of resistance to this national tragedy.

CMA members remain deeply divided on these issues. An even-handed editorial and reporting style would show respect for this diversity of opinion.

## Reference

1.  1. Eggertson L. Abortion services in Canada: a patchwork quilt with many holes. CMAJ 2001;164(6):847-9.
    
    [PubMed](http://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/external-ref?access_num=11276554&link_type=MED&atom=%2Fcmaj%2F165%2F1%2F15.1.atom)