Environics Poll: Unborn Babies Deserve Protection

OTTAWA, October 22, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In light of the recent murders of several pregnant mothers, the Canadian public is in the midst of a debate on the right to life of unborn children. Seventy-two percent of Canadians polled in an Environics poll commissioned by LifeCanada/VieCanada say they would support legislation making it a separate crime to injure or kill a fetus during an attack on the mother. Among women, 75% supported the legislation.
The Focus Canada poll of 2,047 Canadians was conducted between September 17 and October 14, with a margin of error of ±2.2% nineteen times out of twenty.

There have been five pregnant women murdered in Canada in the past three years, the most recent being Aysun Sesen, 25, of Toronto. She and her seven-month unborn child died after she was stabbed in the abdomen. Her husband has been charged with second-degree murder. However, under Canadian law the fetus is not recognized as a human being until it is born so police cannot charge perpetrators with murder of the unborn baby.

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Aydin Cocelli, a family member of a woman slain while seven months pregnant has requested a meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper to press the rights of the babies who died before they even opened their eyes. He hasn't heard from the Prime Minister's Office yet. Hopefully the poll numbers are enough to convince Stephen Harper that legal protection for the unborn victims of crime is not that controversial, so agreeing to a meeting with Adyn Cocelli doesn't threaten the electoral success of the Conservative party.

Last year, Alberta Conservative Leon Benoit introduced a private member's bill to make it a separate crime to harm a fetus when the mother is assaulted or murdered, but the bill was defeated in the House of Commons.

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In fact, bill C-291 hasn't been defeated. It was declared a "non-votable" item and dropped from the order of precedence. It could still be placed back into the order of precedence and voted on - if there are enough MPs willing to put an end to the injustice.