EDMONTON, April 29, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A new bill that could affect the rights of children while still within the womb was put on hold Tuesday. Alberta Members of Legislative Assembly (MLA’s) deferred the decision on a private bill seeking to allow a child the right to sue her own mother for damages incurred while within the womb. Debate and voting on the bill will resume when the House reconvenes in August. The father of a severely brain-damaged child wants the right for his two year-old daughter to sue her mother for damages resulting from a single-vehicle crash that resulted in the girl’s disability. The family argues that, had another driver been at fault, the family could sue for damages that would entitle them to expenses for the girl’s costly care. Delaying the bill is meant to help unanswered questions such as whether a new bill is necessary. Others have argued that the implications of the bill could be as far-reaching as unborn children’s rights in general. Brent Rathgeber, an Edmonton lawyer who specialized in auto accident injury cases before becoming a provincial MLA, told the Canadian Press that ordinarily, common law exempts women from such suits. “To override the common-law exemption is a major public policy consideration and invariably that debate will raise the issues of the rights of the fetus versus the rights of pregnant women,” he told the CP. “That is not an issue that we can resolve here at this table.”
Read the Canadian Press coverage at: https://www.canada.com/health/story.html?id=129AEC61-1336-4C41-972E-F974F4F7E24A