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For Immediate Release (Ottawa) – Ken Epp, Member of Parliament for Edmonton – Sherwood Park, responded today to the news that the Quebec National Assembly adopted a Motion yesterday denouncing his Private Member’s Bill C-484, the Unborn Victims of Crime Act. “First, I want to make it clear that this is not a Government Bill. It is a Private Member’s Bill, and the Government has declared a free vote on it,” said Mr. Epp. “Let us debate the Bill and not a misrepresentation of it,” said Mr. Epp. “My Bill expressly and explicitly excludes elective abortion. C-484 is totally focused on protecting a pregnant woman and the child she has chosen to bring to term. It is her choice to give her child life, love, and care. To the pregnant woman, the well-being of her child is paramount, and this Bill corrects the gap in our justice system that requires her to stand alone in defense of her baby’s safety. It provides for charges only when the woman is the victim of a criminal attack. As anyone knows, it is not a crime for a pregnant woman to seek the help of medical personnel to terminate her pregnancy, so that issue is excluded from Bill C-484. The intent of the Bill is further clarified by the wording, ‘For greater certainty, this section does not apply in respect of conduct relating to the lawful termination of the pregnancy of the mother of the child to which the mother has consented.’ It also excludes ‘any act or omission by the mother of the child.’ IT DOES NOT APPLY TO ABORTION. IT APPLIES ONLY IN THE CASE WHERE THE WOMAN IS THE VICTIM OF A CRIME AND HER CHILD IS BRUTALLY INJURED OR KILLED.” Seventy-two percent of Canadians support this legislation according to a recent Environics Poll; that level of support is 70% in Quebec. A recent Angus Reid Strategies poll pegged the support at 70% across the country, and 63% in Quebec. “The Quebec National Assembly is clearly not speaking for the people of Quebec, a clear majority of who support this Bill,” Mr. Epp said. “And the Assembly is especially not speaking for women,” Mr. Epp added, noting that the Environics poll found 75% support among women, and the Angus Reid Strategies poll, 74% support among women. Mr. Epp thinks that the Assembly’s reaction may have been triggered by alarmist claims made by the president of the Quebec Federation of Medical Specialists, Dr. Gaétan Barrette, who totally misrepresented both the facts and the intent of the Bill in a recent news conference. “If we fail to pass C-484 into law, then we are turning our backs on every woman who is heartbroken by the killing of the child in her womb by a violent criminal, and we are saying, in essence, it means nothing,” Mr. Epp said. Mr. Epp concluded, “A pregnant woman has the right to have the safety and well-being of the child she wants and loves protected in law. It is unconscionable that the intent and purpose of Bill C-484 has been misrepresented so blatantly. Please read the Bill!” -30- Bill C-484 can be viewed here. |
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