To the editor:
What a shame it is that Canadians are so distracted by the entertaining US election that they aren’t even aware about what is going on in their own Parliament. Here in Canada, where your focus should be, a vote was taken on Oct 19. Kelowna MPs Dan Albas abstained on the vote (or didn’t find it important enough to be there?) and Stephen Fuhr voted against it. Both should be ashamed for their disregard for human life. I am ashamed of them both.
A little context. Bill C225 was a Private Member’s Bill put forward to enact legislation that would make it a crime to harm a child in the womb. Bill C225 was otherwise known as Cassie and Molly’s law. Cassandra Kaake was seven months pregnant in December 2014 when she and little Molly in her womb were violently murdered and then burned to hide evidence. The head investigator into their murders said that it was one of the most disturbing crime scenes he had witnessed in his 28 years of policing. Under Canadian law, the man charged for this heinous crime could not be charged for baby Molly’s death as not a single shred of legislation exists to make such possible. He, like any other killer of his kind, cannot be not punished for Molly’s death.
The summary of the Bill C225 was to amend the Criminal Code to make it an offence to cause injury or death to a preborn child while committing or attempting to commit an offence against a pregnant woman and to add pregnancy as an aggravating circumstance for the purpose of sentencing.
Something worthwhile to look to the US to understand is that 80 per cent of US states have fetal homicide laws while at the same time having liberal abortion laws and public funding for abortion. In the United States, the fetal protection policies and Unborn Victims of Violence Act defines the fetus as a person without, in the least, infringing on a woman’s right to abort a pregnancy. In fact, the legislation is designed that way. It is solely about the protection of the mother and her child within the womb if ‘they’ are attacked in some form.
This is no exaggeration, here in Canada a pregnant mother can be punched, kicked or stabbed in the belly and suffer the injury or death of her ‘wanted’ child and there is no legislation in existence to make the assault against the child a crime. The womb, which should be the safest place on Earth for human life, is not considered worthy of protections in our nation — a nation we nonsensically claim is just and civilized.
The next time you see a pregnant woman, maybe your family member or maybe just a stranger consider that because her baby is concealed within one inch of her flesh the leaders of your country voted against legislation that would make that child, that wanted human life, recognized and worthy of protection against unwanted violence.
Shame on you Canada.
Stephen Boissoin, Kelowna
