Overview of Bill C-484

– Thu, 2008 – 05 – 01 20:42

Overview of Bill C-484:

An Act to amend the Criminal Code
(injuring or causing death of an unborn child while committing an offence)

On December 13th, 2007, federal Conservative Member of Parliament, Ken Epp, tabled Bill C-484, “An Act to amend the Criminal Code (injuring or causing the death of an unborn child while committing an offense)”. The Bill is usually cited by its short title, The Unborn Victims of Crime Act. The Act has now passed its second reading in the House of Commons.

Bill C-484 would allow charges to be laid in the death of an “unborn child” if the mother is a victim of violent crime. As a result, many believe that it opens the door to giving de facto legal personhood to a foetus. The granting of such status could conflict with women’s rights and undermine the current legal understanding by the Supreme Court of Canada that a woman and her foetus are considered “physically one,” and that the foetus is not a separate entity. By separating the two in his new bill, Epp is advancing a position that runs counter to that of the Supreme Court and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

An attack on abortion?
(Source: Abortion Coalition of Canada and The National Advocates for Pregnant Women)

According to the Abortion Coalition of Canada, although Section 7 of Bill C-484 claims that abortion is exempt from the bill, the assignment of rights to a fetus contradicts this assertion. The reality is that this bill represents the possibility of re-criminalizing abortion and opens up the opportunity to target a woman for any harmful behaviour to the fetus, whether it is intentional or not. To illustrate this point, in the United States, more than 30 states have case law or statues that are similar to Bill C-484. According to NAPW, with these laws in place, these states could punish women for behaviours and conditions that are not criminally sanctioned for other members of society, and some could charge a woman for self-abortion or engagement in ‘harmful’ behaviours, relationships, situations and environments that endanger the fetus.

Will the Bill address violence against women?
(Source: Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund - Backgrounder and Position Statement)

According to LEAF, Bill C-484 is not intended to prevent the cause of domestic violence, or provide any substantial measures to address violence against women, including pregnant women. Rather, it is a step back for a woman’s reproductive rights. Instead of this bill, we need better measures to reduce violence against pregnant women. “Fetal homicide” laws in the U.S. have done nothing to reduce the high rates of domestic violence against pregnant women (or fetuses).

Pregnant women can be particularly vulnerable to acts of physical and emotional violence. Bill C-484 does not achieve the aim of taking seriously violence against women and does not add any meaningful legal remedies to those already present in the criminal law to address violence against pregnant women. When a pregnant woman is abused or killed, loss of the fetus is harm to the pregnant woman herself. This harm can be considered an aggravating feature in sentencing.

Equality advocates have identified systemic causes of violence against women and proffered a wide range of meaningful solutions to those causes, such as adequate financial security for women and children trying to leave abusive situations, more stable funding and education opportunities for women with children, and better training for police, lawyers and judges and better funding for transition houses and women’s groups serving the needs of abused women. If this or any other Canadian government was serious about addressing violence against women, including pregnant women, it would look to the wealth of recommendations made over the years by a range of community-based organizations with expertise in assisting women and children victims of violence.

The Quebec Government’s Position:

In a free vote in the National Assembly on April 17, 2008, the three Quebec parties voted unanimously to ask their federal counterparts to send C-484 to the dustbin. Many believe that this move is meant to put pressure on Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion, who was the only leader who missed the vote. Two dozen Liberal MPs (and New Democrat Peter Stoffer) voted with the Conservatives on Bill C-484 last month. Without their support, the bill would have died there and then.

What is Quebec’s Federation of Specialist Doctors saying?

One of Quebec’s powerful doctors’ federations is joining the opposition to Bill C-484. According to Gaétan Barrette, head of Quebec’s Federation of Specialist Doctors “the back-door objective of this bill is to set in motion a long legal saga that would in the end give rights to the fetus.”

The Federation believes that, if passed, this Bill will allow someone to go to the Supreme Court and petition that because they’ve passed Bill 484, and because this implicitly gave rights to this fetus, that abortion should be illegal because it is murder.

According to Barrette and the Federation, there is no need for a new law. Raather, judges can use their discretion to impose harsher sentences for brutal crimes.

Take Action!

Sign a petition against Bill C-484 on the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada website: http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/oppose-bill-c-484.html
Use the sample letter provided and the information above to help you write a letter to your MP. Remember, the more personalized your letter is, the more effective it will be. Visit this website to view an informative letter: http://www.arcc-cdac.ca/action/unborn-victims-sample-letter.htm
Contact your Member of Parliament, and express your concern for the bill. To locate the email address and phone number of your MP, visit this governmental website:
http://www2.parl.gc.ca/Parlinfo/Compilations/HouseOfCommons/MemberByPostalCode.aspx?Menu=HOC

To view a complete list of all MP’s who voted on this Bill, click here, and scroll to line 1850:

http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Mode=1&Parl=39&Ses=2&DocId=3330102&Language=E#Div-58

Participate in the Ottawa protest against this Bill being held on May 3rd between 12:00 – 3:00pm at the Human Rights Monument on Elgin Street.
Attend the Solidarity protest to oppose Bill C-484 in Fredericton on May 3rd at noon, in front of City Hall. Anyone interested in participating is encouraged to contact pedgehog@gmail.com.