News

Thursday April 15, 2010


Mother of Murdered Daughter, Unborn Grandson Calls for Renewal of Unborn Victims of Crime Bill

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski

EDMONTON, Alberta, April 15, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Mary Talbot, mother of Olivia Talbot who, along with her unborn son Lane, was murdered in 2005 by Jared Baker, has sent an email to supporters saying she intends to renew efforts to reintroduce the Unborn Victims of Crime Bill C-484 to Canada’s Parliament.

The initiative follows a March 19 decision by the Supreme Court of Canada dismissing an appeal by Baker of his 2007 first-degree murder conviction for killing the then 19-year-old Olivia. Baker was not tried or convicted for the killing of Olivia’s unborn child due to federal law, which does not consider a child in the womb a person.

Baker had appealed to the Supreme Court to find him not criminally responsible for Olivia’s killing, saying he was in the throes of a drug-induced psychosis.

The court heard that on Nov. 23, 2005, Baker shot Olivia three times in the stomach and twice in the head while under the influence of crystal meth. He then threw his gun into a river and turned himself in to police.

In 2008, Conservative MP Ken Epp’s private member’s Bill C-484, the so-called Unborn Victims of Crime Bill, was quashed when Conservative Justice Minister Rob Nicholson introduced a watered-down version of the bill, ostensibly so as not to reopen the debate on abortion. The bill would have allowed for separate punishments for killing an unborn child in a violent attack on a pregnant mother.

Abortion activists saw Epp’s bill as a possible avenue toward acceptance of fetal rights by changing the definition of a ‘human being’ in the Criminal Code, which they argued could have the effect of criminalizing abortion, despite the fact that the bill explicitly stated that it would have no effect on abortion.

“Let me be clear, our government will not reopen the debate on abortion,” said Nicholson in the August 25, 2008 announcement. “For this reason, and in the context of the government’s tackling crime agenda, I’m announcing that the government will introduce legislation that will punish criminals who commit violence against pregnant women but do so in a way that leaves no room for the introduction of fetal rights.”

In his announcement of the measure, Nicholson noted that the Conservatives accepted the arguments of abortion activists. “We’ve heard criticisms from across the country, including representative from the medical community, that Mr. Epp’s bill as presently drafted could be interpreted as instilling fetal rights,” he said.

In her email to supporters and to members of Olivia’s Justice, Mrs. Talbot thanked them for their support leading up to Baker’s appeal to the Supreme Court and asked them to help her to continue the struggle to have the lives of the unborn recognized in Canada’s justice system.

“I am going to ask more from you now. It is the effort to renew the Bill C-484,” Mrs. Talbot said.

“I still strongly believe that Olivia’s beautiful baby boy was also murdered. Though there will not be justice here on earth, we need to see our justice system recognize that Baby Lane’s life was also taken and that the killer deserves to deal with the consequences. We have to do this for our future Mom’s and their babies. We will be working now towards that end.”

More information is available on the Olivia’s Justice facebook page.

To contact your Member of Parliament click here.

See previous LSN coverage:

Conservative Party of Canada Kills Unborn Victims of Crime Act with Gutless Alternative

https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/aug/08082510.html

Mother of Slain Pregnant Woman Petitions for Murder Charge in Death of Unborn Child

https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/dec/05121408.html

Woman Petitioning for Murder Charge in Death of Unborn Grandson is Harassed by Conservative Party Security

https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/dec/05121906.html

Murder of Pregnant Woman in Toronto Ignites Debate on Recognition of Life of Unborn

https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/oct/07100405.html

Mother and Unborn Child Fatally Shot in Winnipeg

https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jan/08010312.html

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