News

By Terry Vanderheyden

OTTAWA, January 17, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The family of a slain teen and her unborn child has launched a petition for the creation of a law to protect unborn victims of violence.

In association with the pro-life group LifeCanada, the family of Olivia Talbot, who was 27 weeks pregnant when she was shot to death at her home in Alberta in November, has launched the petition on line.

“Even though Olivia was in her third trimester of pregnancy, no charges were laid in the death of her unborn child,” LifeCanada explained in a release. “Since Canadian law does not recognize the child in the womb as a person, he or she has no rights until birth.”

LifeCanada revealed results of a Focus Canada poll they commissioned, conducted in October by Environics Research. The poll found that 64% of Canadian women support legal protection of unborn children before birth. “For the fourth year in a row, we see that the majority of Canadians do not support the existing situation in Canada in which there is no legal protection for babies in the womb,” said Joanne Byfield, president of LifeCanada.

“There is no legal protection for unborn babies at any stage, even for those who are injured or killed in the course of a violent crime,” Byfield added. “Canadians should insist that their government’s respect the wishes of the voters and provide some protection for babies in the womb. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms includes the right to life. If we deny it to these most vulnerable human beings, it is a very fragile and arbitrary right.”

Petitions are not accepted during an election campaign. LifeCanada urges that completed petition sheets be held until after the election and then sent to the newly elected MPs.

See the Unborn Victims of Violence Petition at: https://www.lifecanada.org/html/organization/UVV%20petition.pdf

View all findings of the LifeCanada poll at:
https://www.lifecanada.org/html/resources/polling/Media%20Release_November2005.pdf