Unborn Victims of Crime Act Passes Committee Approval
Gudrun Schultz

A bill to protect unborn victims of crime was deemed votable by the Subcommittee on
Private Members’ Business on Dec. 5, passing a major hurdle on the way to Parliamentary vote.

Bill C-484 was introduced in the House of Commons November 21 by Conservative MP Ken Epp (Edmonton-Sherwood Park), who brought forward the measure as a private members bill in response to the violent deaths of five pregnant Canadian women and their unborn children during the past three years. Aysun Sesen, a 25-year-old Toronto woman was the latest victim of assault, dying October 2 along with her seven-month unborn daughter after suffering multiple wounds to her abdomen. The legislation would allow criminal charges to be laid in the death or injury of an unborn child when the child’s mother is the victim of a crime. As the law currently stands, the perpetrator of such a crime cannot be charged with the death of the child.

“This is all about protecting the choice of a woman to give birth to her child,” Mr. Epp said in a press release November 21. “It is about condemning the actions of those who would take it upon themselves to criminally assault a pregnant woman and the child she wants and loves, destroying that child against her will.”

Bill C-484 is a response to repeated calls from the families of murdered pregnant women—and from the public at large—to recognize unborn children as crime victims when they are injured or killed during the commission of an offence against their mothers.

“Having heard the heart-rending stories of the families of the victims, I am absolutely convinced that this is an issue which cannot be swept aside,” Mr. Epp said. “How do you tell these grieving families that the child they loved and lost never even existed in the eyes of the law? My Unborn Victims of Crime bill addresses this grave injustice, and I encourage all my Colleagues from all parties to support this bill when it comes up for a vote in the House.”

The legislation has widespread support among the Canadian public. An Environics poll commissioned by LifeCanada and released in October 2007 found that 72% of Canadians—and
75% of women—would support legislation making it a separate crime to injure or kill a foetus during an attack on the mother. Even among those Canadians who support unrestricted abortion for the full nine months of pregnancy, 55% said they would support such legislation. Members of the sub-committee received a significant out-pouring of support for the bill from concerned Canadians through personal letters and via an email campaign.

Unborn victims of crime legislation is also supported across party lines: 77% of Conservative supporters, 71% of Liberal, 71% of the Bloc Quebecois, 67% of the Green Party, and 66% of the NDP supporters are in favour of the proposed legislation.

The five members of the Sub-Committee reviewed the measure in an in-camera session. A similar measure introduced by MP Leon Benoit in 2006 was deemed non-votable by the sub-committee over unspecified constitutional concerns. The current version of the Unborn Victims of Crime Act was carefully adjusted to address those concerns and ensure the bill would be heard in the House.