On December 19, Judge H.J. McGivern of the BC Provincial Court rejected a challenge of the NDP government’s “bubble zone” law brought forward by prominent Nelson pro-lifer Jim Demers. Mr Demers sought to have preborn children included in the right-to-life guarantee of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and to overturn the Access to Abortion Services Act, which prohibits free speech around abortion centres in BC. He spent five days presenting an impressive array of arguments for the humanity of the preborn child, and for the right to life of preborn children according to international law.
Judge McGivern ignored all of that in his ruling, however. He declared that children in the womb whose mothers have decided to abort them are not included in the words “everyone” and “every individual,” as found in sections 7 and 15 of the Charter.
“The judge didn’t even have the courtesy to address our main arguments, let alone refute them,” said Mr Demers. “He just parrotted other cases and tacked them together. Demers explained that the goal of his challenge was to get the courts to drop the legal fiction that there is any difference between a human being and a “person” having rights.
John Hof, President of Campaign Life Coalition BC, says, “We can’t go on this way. Canadians are starting to realize what the legal void with regard to preborn children has led to. Now is the time for everyone to take a stand, and get active. We’ve got to redouble our efforts to overcome abortion on the political level.”
Mr Demers and his counsel are currently considering whether to appeal Judge McGivern’s ruling.