Many newspapers on Monday ran pictures of grief-stricken men, women and children shedding tears at a mock funeral for about 100 dogs and cats who were euthanized by the Newmarket OSPCA because of a deadly ringworm outbreak.

They demanded shelter officials be criminally charged with what one rally organizer called “the senseless slaughter of these beautiful animals.”

In the meantime -speaking of senseless slaughters - most Canadians remain silent while our deadly human abortion machine continues unabated. Recent protests by anti-abortion people in Ottawa are portrayed by most media as a vanguard of an evil force determined to take over the country and force social conservatism down our throats.

While the deaths of 100 animals is sad, does it really compare to the annual slaughter of 100,000 or so unborn babies? Not in my world.

Yet anybody who thinks there is something wrong with Canada being the only developed nation in the world with no controls whatsoever on abortion, is routinely demonized in the media as an extremist zealot.

The Toronto Star, for example, pronounced in a weekend editorial that “abortion has been a settled issue in Canada for a quarter-century,” maliciously painting pro-lifers as people who want to revert to “a time when police arrested doctors who carried out safe, therapeutic abortions and put them on trial...”

No doubt some pro-lifers want to do that. But if The Star and their fellow travelers in the media cared about reporting the subject fairly, they might read the January, 2010, Angus Reid Global Monitor poll which found an almost even split between those who believe abortion should be available without restrictions and those who believe that, like all other civilized countries, there should be some restrictions.

What’s more, 79 percent of those asked said it should be mandatory for health workers to offer pregnant women information about alternatives to abortion, 53 percent say under-aged girls should need parental consent for abortions and 41 percent believe the state should pay for abortions only in emergency cases. Are that many Canadians really raving “extremists?”

When Parliament a few years back voted solidly against same-sex marriage - before later reversing themselves -The Star and others did not proclaim the issue “settled.” That’s because it wasn’t settled, any more than abortion or a myriad of social issues are “settled” and therefore beyond debate. It’s absurd position for any newspaper to argue that controversial issues are “settled.” You’d think media, of all places, would promote debate rather than try to muzzle it.

But issues are only “settled” when the liberal left agrees with the status quo. If they disagree, well then, it’s not “settled.” Anybody who can’t see that is, well, an extremist. Worse, they’re part of the “religious right,” as if a)- religion is the only grounds upon which to protect unborn babies and, b)- if it is based on religion, then it’s completely invalid.

Much of the recent furor over abortion came from the decision by Prime Minister Stephen Harper not to use your tax dollars to fund abortions in Third World countries. For this, he is being attacked by the Liberals (except, of course, that substantial group of Liberals who actually are pro-life) and others for his so-called extreme, social conservative views.

Odd, while they applauded their hero U.S. President Barrack Obama’s decision to overturn former president George Bush’s position on funding abortions with American money abroad, they aren’t saying anything about Obama’s pledge to bar public funding of abortions in the U.S. Why? Because if a liberal supports it - it’s progress. If a conservative differs, it’s extremism.

The aforementioned January poll found that 43 percent of respondents - 43% - believe a woman can have an abortion only during the first three months of pregnancy, with no other restrictions. Another 10 percent believed a woman can only have an abortion if her life is in danger or if she is a victim of rape or the fetus has serious defects.

One can only speculate how many Canadians would oppose the status quo if they actually understood the fact that in Canada - and nowhere else in the developed world - a woman can have an abortion right up to the moment of birth. No restrictions. None.

If the media and pro-abortion politicians began to tell people the truth about our no-holds-barred abortion industry - rather than demonizing its’ critics - then maybe, just maybe, who might finally have a honest debate in Parliament and find a reasonable accommodation.

Just don’t hold your breath, however. And don’t expect the daily slaughter to abate any time soon.