The Conservatives are bringing in anti-abortion legislation by the back door. And it’s perfectly legal.
That way Prime Minister Stephen Harper does not have to break the election promise he made not to recriminalize abortion.
The Conservatives are bringing in anti-abortion legislation by the back door. And it’s perfectly legal.
That way Prime Minister Stephen Harper does not have to break the election promise he made not to recriminalize abortion.
His backbench Conservative MPs are doing the job for him, with a little help from some Liberals. It’s a complicated plan, using four members’ private bills which would give a fetus the legal status of an “unborn child” - a major step towards going to the Supreme Court with a Charter challenge to ban abortion.
The “unborn child” strategy has worked in 37 U.S. states where abortion has been made illegal or severely restricted.
Canada is the only major developed country where there is no abortion law. This angers the Christian Right.
Conservative MPs have been getting help from U.S. Right to Life groups, the Catholic Church, and evangelical Protestant groups.
Since the Harper Conservatives came to power, influential Christian Right groups and “pro-family” lobbies have sprung up all over town.
The strategy starts with bill C-484, the Unborn Victims of Crime Act, sponsored by Conservative MP Ken Epp, a strong Mennonite Christian. It would create a separate Criminal Code offence for killing or injuring an “unborn child” during an attack on a pregnant woman.
A killer of a pregnant woman would be charged with double murder. Women’s groups fear it would also be used to charge women who seek illegal abortions with harming their “unborn child.” Under such laws in the U.S., women using drugs that abused their fetus have been jailed and had their children taken away.
Opponents call the separate offence provision useless.
Under s. 718 (2) of the Criminal Code, the presence of mitigating circumstances (such as the murder of a fetus) already allows a judge to hand down a heavier sentence.
The whole thing is just a pretext, they say, to sneak the “unborn child” wording into the code to use later in a Charter challenge against abortion. The word “fetus” is replaced by “unborn child,” and “pregnant woman” by “mother,” throughout the bill.
Supporters are halfway there. The bill passed second reading 147 to 133 on March 5 and is on its way to committee in the fall.
All but four Conservatives voted for the bill, along with 27 Liberals and one New Democrat.
The Bloc Québécois and New Democrats voted against, and so did Heritage Minister Josée Verner and Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon.
Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion and six other Liberals were absent. Dion came back and said he’d fight all the way for a woman’s right to safe, legal abortions. He’ll get his chance in the fall.
Liberal MP Massimo Pacetti of Laval, Que. said he went along with the bill, thinking he was just doing something nice for women.
Bill C-338, sponsored by a Liberal MP Paul Steckle, criminalizes abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy, unless the mother suffers from mental problems or the fetus has severe anomalies. This legislation bothers doctors. How to tell when 20 weeks (abortion legal) is not 21 weeks (abortion criminal).
Bill C-537, “protection of conscience in the health-care profession” (sounds like freedom), is sponsored by Conservative MP Maurice Vellacott. It would allow doctors and nurses to refuse to perform medical acts - including abortions - that are against their religion. Abortion refusal in public hospitals, here we come. But good news for religious Muslim and Orthodox Jewish health professionals.
Bill C-543 “abuse of pregnant women” would make attacking a pregnant women an “aggravating” factor.
Actually, it’s already in the Criminal Code. And what about non-pregnant women?
MPs who support the legislation meet regularly for a prayer breakfast in a chapel built for religious worship inside the Parliament Buildings. Lately, to their surprise, they’ve been joined by Muslim and Jewish MPs, who happen to share their views on abortion.
The opponents have begun to organize. The Quebec College of Physicians has come out against all four bills. The college fears that criminalizing abortion will criminalize doctors.
Yves Robert, the secretary of the college, sent letters to all four party leaders urging them to defeat the legislation.
“There is already a Criminal Code definition of a child,” said Robert. “A child is a person from the moment of birth until adulthood.”
Robert says the MPs are using private bills to criminalize abortion without stirring up a public debate “and that’s what we denounce.”
The Quebec National Assembly recently passed a motion urging defeat of the federal legislation. It was unanimous.
Seventy public groups have voiced opposition including anti-violence groups, women’s shelters, medical organizations, legal associations, drug policy groups, and labor unions.
Nineteen of the 20 groups backing the legislation are anti-abortion, religious, or right-wing conservatives.
Public opinion polls show that, when asked if they support a law to fight violence against pregnant women, respondents are overwhelmingly in favor of the legislation.
Why not? It’s a motherhood issue isn’t it?
Richard Cleroux is a freelance reporter and columnist on Parliament Hill. His e-mail address is
richard[email protected].
