Unborn victims bill inspired by murder of pregnant woman
OTTAWA, ON--Until recently, Canada was the only Western democratic country with no legal protection for children before they were born. However, a private member's bill which passed its second reading in early March could change all of that.
Bill C-484-the Unborn Victims of Crime Act-proceeded to committee stage on March 5, following a vote of 147 to 132 in favour of legislation that would amend the Criminal Code to allow charges to be laid if an unborn child is killed or injured during an attack against his or her mother.
"In the midst of their grief, I hope [those] who have lost loved ones to this type of crime can experience some measure of consolation today, knowing that many, many Canadians are united with them in the quest for justice for unborn victims of crime," says Ken Epp, member of parliament for Edmonton-Sherwood Park.
"Although justice will never be served for the crimes committed against their own family members, there is real hope today that other families in the future will be spared the injustice of being told that the child they loved and wanted to live, never even existed in the eyes of the law."
Epp proposed the bill after being moved to tears when he saw media reports on the murder of Olivia Talbot.
In November 2005, one of Talbot's friends shot the 19-year-old Edmonton woman three times in the abdomen and twice in the head. Talbot was six months pregnant.
"It was a kick in the face when the family was told there was no recognition in Canadian law of that unborn child," says Epp, himself a grandfather of five children.
"It's a common sense bill," says a spokesperson for Campaign Life Coalition. "The fact that it recognizes that the perpetrator should be charged with two crimes instead of one, well, it's just a matter of justice."
Joyce Arthur of the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada doesn't see it that way. "The only thing the bill does is enshrine fetal personhood under the law," she insists. "It's in direct conflict with the Criminal Code, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and many legal precedents."
Epp calls Arthur's accusations "grossly unfounded."
"Anyone who takes the time to read the text of C-484 will see that the bill does not hurt pregnant women trying to have a baby. To the contrary, Bill C-484 protects pregnant women and their babies by making it a crime to injure or cause the death of a woman's preborn child when the woman is the victim of a crime."
In a web-based editorial entitled "It's Not About Abortion," Don Hutchinson, legal counsel for the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada explains: "It's about the choice a woman makes when she decides to give birth to the child within her, whether to raise that child herself or lovingly give the child to adoptive parents. No one has the right to take that decision away from her."
Advocates of Bill C-484 say the proposed legislation goes beyond the abortion debate. Rather, they say, it's about protecting lives after the mother has already chosen to keep her child.
"You may argue that, if someone is so angry they'll stab or shoot a pregnant woman, the thought of two murder convictions won't slow them down," writes Lorna Dueck, executive producer of ListenUp TV, in The The Globe and Mail.
"Perhaps not, but it will say that Canadians fight for a woman's right of safety when pregnant, and we provide justice when a women's choice is attacked by violence."
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