OTTAWA, Ontario, December 9, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Canadian women are voicing their support for Roxanne’s Law, a bill to seeking to ban abortion coercion, in a new testimonial-style video campaign by the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC).
The EFC launched the campaign last week as the bill faces a decisive second reading vote on December 15th. They say it comes partly as a response to female MPs who claimed that the bill lacked support from Canadian women.
“While some may argue the contrary, many Canadian women do support Roxanne’s Law, and one of the main purposes of this campaign is to draw attention to the voices of women who want to see the bill passed,” explained Faye Sonier, EFC Legal Counsel.
MP Nicole Demers (Laval, BQ) is one female MP who said in the House that the women of Quebec and Canada “are not fools” and that through this bill, “men are trying to decide what is good for us.”
“I sincerely hope that Ms. Demers didn’t believe that her position reflected that of all Canadian women. She didn’t speak for all Canadian women that morning, and she certainly did not speak for me,” said Sonier.
Abortion is currently permitted and funded throughout all nine months of pregnancy in Canada.
The reality of coerced abortion in the country, long known to exist, became undeniably clear in 2007 when Canadians learned the details about the death of Roxanne Fernando. Fernando, for whom Bill C-510 is named, was murdered by her boyfriend, the father of her unborn child, after refusing to have an abortion. She was lured outside for a supposed Valentine’s Day date, then beaten and left to die in a snow bank.
Another instance came up two weeks ago, when a woman charged with murder testified that she had fatally stabbed her boyfriend in self-defense after he attacked her over her refusal to abort their unborn child.
“This is a straightforward and pro-woman bill,” said Sonier. “It will assist in better protecting women from being coerced into having unwanted abortions.”
“Women are in a vulnerable position when they are pregnant, particularly if the child’s father does not want the child to be born, and this bill will provide additional protections for the mother’s choice and her child’s life,” she continued. “For those concerned, this bill will not and cannot legally criminalize or limit access to abortion in any way.”
The EFC has invited all Canadians, women or men, to record their own videos and to circulate them prior to Bill C-510’s mid-December vote in the House of Commons. To assist, the EFC has prepared a webpage with information and videos explaining the bill and its impact as well as sample petitions and letters.
Sonier informed LifeSiteNews today that the deadline for submitting videos is December 9th at midnight, but they will nevertheless accept videos up until the vote on Wednesday, December 15th.
More information about the campaign can be found at www.theEFC.ca/roxanne.