By Gudrun Schultz
OTTAWA, Ontario, June 16, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Conservative MP Leon Benoit has said the bill for unborn victims of violence that was declared “non-votable” earlier this month will be back for further debates and another vote, in modified form.
Private Member’s Bill C-291 would amend the Criminal Code to make injuring or killing an unborn child while committing or attempting to commit an offence against the mother a separate crime under law, carrying equivalent penalties to causing injury or death to the mother.
The bill was drafted in response to the violent deaths of two pregnant Edmonton women, 19-year-old Olivia and her unborn child Lane, who were shot and killed when the Edmonton woman was 27 weeks pregnant with baby Lane, and Liana White, who was killed along with her unborn child.
The bill never made it past the five-member Subcommittee on Private Members Business, which deemed it non-votable. The committee members stated that the bill “clearly” violated the Constitution including the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
MP Benoit defended the constitutionality of the bill before the Standing Committee on Procedural and House Affairs on June 6, but the committee members voted to uphold the earlier decision and again declared the bill non-votable.
In a press release on June 6, MP Benoit expressed concern that “the Subcommittee provided no information whatsoever regarding what section of the Charter/Constitution was violated, nor what part of my bill was in violation.”
In a letter to supporters June 15, MP Benoit said he is confident the bill will be successful on the next round.
See previous LifeSiteNews coverage:
Canada Unborn Victims of Violence Bill Loses Appeal to be Declared Votable
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jun/06060608.html
Unborn Victims of Violence Bill Proposed in Canadian Parliament by Conservative MP
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/may/06051705.html