Abortion headlines: Canada versus U.S.

Here are the latest attention-grabbing abortion headlines in Canada and in the United States.

Canada:

The Supreme Court of Canada has refused to hear an appeal by two women in Manitoba who asked the province to pay for timely abortions outside publicly funded hospitals.

The women started a class-action lawsuit against the NDP government in 2001. They contended they had to pay for abortions at a private clinic because the wait for a procedure at a public hospital was eight weeks.

The province now pays for abortions at a non-profit clinic.

United States:

With an overwhelming 23-12 vote to make it a felony for doctors to perform abortions, the South Dakota Senate has joined the lower house of the legislature -- which backed the bill by a 47-to-22 margin -- to endorse a move that could force the shuttering of that state's last clinic.

Just how dramatically unwanted a pregnancy might be is of little concern to the South Dakota legislators who backed the ban. While a narrow exception was allowed for procedures that would save the life of a pregnant woman, the South Dakotans rejected amendments to the bill that would have provided exceptions in the case of rape or incest or serious threats to the health and well-being of the woman.

You'd never know that the two nations reside on the same planet. What a difference!