A Montreal man was sentenced on May 18 to one year in jail for killing his girlfriend’s unborn child without her consent.

Gary Bourgeois’ girlfriend learned she was pregnant in July, 2000, but when she shared the news with Bourgeois, he told her he was seeing someone else who was also pregnant by him, the Globe and Mail reported last September. Several times, he tried to convince his girlfriend to have an abortion. She refused.

Later, when the couple had intercourse, Bourgeois surreptitiously inserted an anti-ulcer drug, misoprostol, into her vagina. Misoprostol (sold under the brand name Cytotec) triggers uterine contractions, and is used in combination with other drugs to induce abortions (for example, in the abortion pill, RU-486.) She was 14 weeks pregnant at the time.

The woman later complained of cramps, then realized her boyfriend had done something to her when she discovered the remnant of a pill in her underwear.

“I’d much rather have the physical scars than the emotional ones,” The Canadian Press reported. When she asked Bourgeois what he had done to her, he replied “You left me no choice.”

In September, 2003, he pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and administering a noxious substance.

At sentencing, Quebec court Judge Jean-Pierre Bonin said, “Society cannot tolerate a male partner in a relationship unilaterally putting an end to a pregnancy,” the Globe and Mail reported.

Crown prosecutor Anne Gauvin said that the crime was premeditated and jail was a fitting punishment. “Many men face an unwanted or unplanned pregnancy, and the message must be clear that they can’t take into their hands the destiny of their girlfriends or their babies,” she said according to the Globe and Mail.

Legislation, such as that described in Garry Breitkreuz’s Motion (see next page) is needed in Canada. But more is needed – the premeditated killing of an unborn child without the mother’s consent must be considered murder whether or not the mother is also murdered A forced abortion cannot simply be treated as aggravated assault in a civilized society. Bourgeois’ intent was to kill the child he knew his girlfriend wanted. What could be more heinous than that? —BM