As we drive, speak, rally and pray our way through the last week of lifeTOUR, we are struck again and again by the continued lack of awareness regarding Canada’s position on abortion. We’ve said repeatedly that Canada has no laws, but this complete lack of regulation is not yet fully understood by most Canadians. At presentations and flag displays, people are continually surprised to find out what “no laws” really means for Canada.
No laws means babies can be aborted because parents wanted a boy, not a girl. It means babies can be aborted past the point when they would be able to survive outside the womb, as many premature babies do. It means pre-born babies killed in violent crimes are not counted as victims. In relation to the recent Planned Parenthood outrage in the U.S., it means it’s ok to partially abort a baby, harvest tissue and organs, kill the baby completely, and turn around and sell those tissues for profit. It means we can plant 100,000 flags and every.single.one represents a baby lost to abortion in Canada this year. This is what NO LAWS around abortion means, and this is why we tour.
Canada needs to reopen the abortion debate, and make laws that reflect the morality of a majority of Canadians. We need to make a start in recognizing and protecting pre-born life in a way that benefits and values us all. Outlawing sex-selective abortion echoes Canada’s claims to want gender equality. Ending late-term abortions recognizes the personhood of premature babies and the scientific humanity of life in the womb. Recognizing pre-born victims of crime validates the worth of all victims.
We are so thankful we have been able to meet and talk to so many people over the course of this tour, both pro-life and pro-abortion. We look forward to our last few events, and we hope you, our supporters and our voice throughout Canada, can keep the momentum going long past the tour, long past this election, right into the next, and the next. It is only through grassroots mobilization that we can convince our elected leaders first to talk, and then to act. Together, we will make a difference for pre-born children in Canada.
As Life TOUR continues, we get to do it all again with a fresh crew of passionate volunteers, in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
These flags represent the great loss of lives to abortion annually in Canada, and their impact can be great. Many conversations are had between volunteers and passers-by, and too many are completely unaware of the total lack of protection for pre-born children in Canada. There is nothing like a visual for people to realize exactly how many babies are dying each year. As long as we as a nation, our leadership in particular, continue to avoid the issue, this will keep happening.
We need to speak up. We need to grow awareness and outrage. We need to build support and understanding. And ultimately, we need a law.
One of our volunteers in Burlington took the time to pen a poem about the experience, which he gave us permission to share here:
It’s Not About Rights
It’s not about Rights
And it’s not about choice.
It’s all about Life…
All those, who have no voice.
Pro-choice has no bearing
On what we see here,
It’s all about Life,
Which we celebrate dear.
These flags that are flying,
Shall commemorate,
Those small Pre-Born’s dying…
How horrid this state.
The scene was arresting,
I’m sure, all who saw,
To this we’re attesting
That “WENEEDALAW”
Then, speak to your neighbour
And urge your MP,
For life’s truth to labour,
That justice might see,
A foothold in Burlington
That you might lead,
Your daughters and sons
To God’s Justice, indeed.
A. Blokhuis
Sept. 30/15
If you’re interested in coordinating a flag display in your area, we’d love to hear from you.
]]>One of the main issues we’re tackling on lifeTOUR is legal recognition for pre-born victims of crime. Wanted babies can be killed without legal ramifications, not only by abortionists, but also by controlling lovers, violent partners, abusive spouses, and complete strangers. A Pre-born Victims of Crime Law would allow wanted babies to be legally recognized as victims if they are killed in the course of a criminal act committed against a pregnant woman.
To be clear, this law does not specifically target abortion, as the mother herself could not be charged under such a law. Abortion providers would also not be charged, as long as they have the consent of the pregnant woman to perform the abortion. While it may seem abundantly clear to us that abortion is more deliberate than the most intentional of murders, Canadian law has yet to catch up to logic on that one, and that is not what this law would address.
There are numerous cases in recent Canadian history where surviving family and friends are shocked and saddened to learn that the pre-born child they so looked forward to holding in their arms counts for nothing in our laws and in our courts. Cassandra Kaake’s pre-born daughter Molly was the most recent such tragedy, and Molly’s father continues the fight to have her recognized in law as a victim in her own right.
As Canadians, we are passionate about victims’ rights, and the need to support and uphold victims. Pre-born children are our most vulnerable citizens, and, if the life of one is taken in crime by someone who clearly knew the victim was pregnant, that life needs to be recognized. We need to validate the choice of every woman who chooses to love and carry her child. We need to tell women and children that they will be protected, and, if protection fails, they will be honoured and esteemed for the lives they were and could have been.
Please join us in supporting a Pre-born Victims of Crime Law. For more details, come see our presentation at one of the lifeTOUR stops near you, visit our Molly Matters page, and join us in signing the petition to make this law a reality.
One of the three main issues we’re tackling in this fall’s lifeTOUR is sex-selective abortion. It’s not an issue people like to talk about – killing babies because they’re a girl instead of a boy, or vice versa. Official birth rates have long shown this happening in countries such as China and India, but the numbers in Canada no longer add up either (1). A 2012 investigation by the CBC (2) called it “unnatural selection”, and that’s exactly what it is.
So far the discussion has mostly focused on the preference in certain ethnic groups for boys, as they slowly increase in the number of live births, while girls slowly decrease. This is, however, only part of the truth, and only the beginning of what is sure to be a growing problem in Canada if unfettered access to abortion continues.
A quick search finds genderselection.com and genderselectioncenter.com as only two of many such sites promoting the chance to deliver exactly the child you want. Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) can determine a baby’s gender before the parents decide to go ahead with the pregnancy. In Canada, sex-selection of embryos for in vitro fertilization is currently illegal; at one point we clearly recognized the inherent gender stereotyping this would support. However, it isn’t difficult to join an online forum, and doctors busy networking on these convenient forums are happy to offer their services to Canadians who come south of the border. This narcissistic desire to create the “designer family” doesn’t come cheap – PGD can cost upwards of $15,000 for one pregnancy (3). The poor man’s “family balancing” alternative? Taxpayer-funded sex-selective abortion.
Such attempts to control our reproductive outcomes are certain to end badly. One self-published author who wrote about her experience with gender selection gave her reasons: “I’m not into sports. I’m not into violent games. I’m not into a lot of things boys represent and boys do.” (3) So not only did she not want a boy, she wanted a stereotypical princess-and-nail-polish-loving girl. Marcy Darnovsky, director of the Center for Genetics and Society, hits the nail on the head with her response to the idea of sex selection: “It’s high-tech eugenics,” she said. “If you’re going through the trouble and expense to select a child of a certain sex, you’re encouraging gender stereotypes that are damaging to women and girls. What if you get a girl who wants to play basketball? You can’t send her back.” (3)
We’re already in a state where 1 in 4 pregnancies in Canada end in abortion (4), and right now it is believed that sex selection is the reason for only a small percentage of those. But, as with the latest style of blue jeans, the latest style of baby genes is sure to catch on. Parents will no longer simply enjoy the children they are blessed with, but will decide for themselves what will be their best fit. The expectations such children are born into will create a society where life is not valued, but conformity to gender stereotypes is. In such a society, women will decide what they want while men are pushed to the sidelines, periodically asked to give sperm for testing to ensure they do not hinder perfect family progress.
Abortion, as a taxpayer-funded medical service, is the most affordable sex selection option available, and one with no questions asked. Thriving pre-born children are being killed in unknown numbers because they did not have the appropriate genitals to make their parents happy. By not having a law banning sex selective abortions, our government encourages gender stereotypes and inequality of the sexes. By simply having ultrasound clinics wait until the 30-week mark to reveal sex, our government can save the lives of those babies unwanted simply because of their sex, as most doctors will not perform an abortion at this stage on a healthy pre-born baby.
(4) http://www.campaignlifecoalition.com/index.php?p=Abortion
The candidates are hitting the campaign trail in preparation for the October 19th federal election, and now is the time for us as Canadians to make our issues their issues.
WeNeedaLAW is so excited to be launching lifeTOUR this fall, in conjunction with the election campaign. LifeTOUR is a 4-week tour across the country to raise the profile of pre-born human rights in Canada. These rights are currently completely neglected by Canadian law, which offers no protection for babies yet to be born. We want to know, from each individual candidate, where they stand on the issues that matter to us, and to our preborn neighbours who are unable to speak for themselves.
Do they care if babies are aborted because parents are trying for a certain gender? Do they care if late-term babies, who could live outside the womb, are aborted? Do they care about the second victim when a pregnant woman is murdered? All of these questions get to the heart of what we’re really asking: do they care about life?
To find out more and to find the event closest to you, visit our tour website, lifetour.ca. We hope to see Canadians out in force as we travel across the country. We’re looking forward to meeting you and discussing how we can work together to make pre-born human rights an issue for Election 2015 and beyond!
In past federal election campaigns, it would have been laughable to suggest that pre-born human rights would be a probable issue to be discussed by party leaders. The 2015 campaign may well be different. Liberal leader Justin Trudeau seems intent on discussing the issue at every opportunity. He hasn’t backed down from his unilateral decision last year to force all members of his caucus to vote pro-choice. In spite of criticisms from both within – who can forget MP John McKay’s “bozo eruption” comment – and outside his party, Trudeau has stood by his position.
While the Liberal leader’s pro-choice stance is principally the same as all the party leaders, he clearly went farther than any other with his ‘no choice but pro-choice’ declaration; he has essentially bound the consciences of all Liberal members on a moral issue. What is not surprising is that, in taking this seemingly dictatorial stance, Trudeau has not lost support. In other words, his edict was not a bozo eruption.
The Liberal leader and his advisors have built political capital by taking a traditionally divisive issue and turning it from a losing one into a winning one. A number of tactical decisions have led to this and one of them is the consistent use of the term ‘reproductive choice’. Even though reproductive choice cannot possibly include abortion – a procedure which terminates an already reproduced human being – using the term allows Trudeau to avoid the use of the ‘a’ word. It is a slight-of-hand that has, for the most part, gone unchallenged. Misinformed supporters listen to Trudeau’s declarations as if somehow a woman’s right to equality is founded solely on her ability to terminate the life of her pre-born child. On the other hand, a large component of the Conservative party base grow increasingly frustrated by a Prime Minister who is too afraid to counter the mistruths Trudeau promulgates.
The result is that we remain a country with an immense legal void when it comes to the protection of rights of children at any stage before birth. This legal void continues to result in real life tragedies for Canadian families.
Consider the story of Cassandra Kaake. Cassie was found bludgeoned to death in a burned out Windsor, Ontario residence on December 11th last year. Her murder is a tragedy, but she wasn’t the only one who lost a life that night. Cassie was 30 weeks pregnant; her baby girl – she had already named her Molly – was killed in the attack too. Yet her daughter, though recognized as a child, is not recognized as a “human being” under Canadian criminal law because she had not yet exited her mother’s womb. And because of that legal deficiency, no murder charge will ever be laid against the person who took Molly’s life. The “reproductive choice” Cassandra made when she decided to carry Molly to term was brutally stolen from her and her family. Where is the justice for Molly? Where is the politician speaking out for Cassie’s choice?
The Kaake family is campaigning for the re-introduction of the Unborn Victims of Crime Act. This piece of legislation, Bill C-484, was introduced in 2007 by MP Ken Epp. It passed Second Reading in Parliament but failed to become law because an election was called in the fall of 2008. However, Epp’s bill had cross-party support and there is still majority support for it today. Even Prime Minister Harper voted in favour of it!
If the hastened debate on Bill C-51 is any indication, the government could certainly pass a pre-born victims law before the current Parliamentary session is over. In doing what is right the Prime Minister could expose the extremist views of both the NDP and the Liberals. In fact, Windsor West MP Brian Masse (NDP) has already indicated that while he is sympathetic to the Kaake family’s loss he would not vote in favour of any legislative change. “There is real concern about that process and the constitutionality of it,” he said when asked by a local reporter. In other words, he’s not interested in justice for Molly.
The reality is a pre-born victims of crime law has nothing to do with abortion. Abortion is legal in Canada throughout the entire nine months of pregnancy for any reason. A pre-born victims law does nothing to change this. A pre-born victims bill modeled after Bill C-484 would not criminalize abortion and could not be interpreted as Parliament restricting a woman’s right to choose to have an abortion. Currently, when a pregnant woman is attacked and her assailant causes harm or kills her pre-born child, no charge can be laid in the death of the woman’s child, even if the sole purpose of the attacker was to kill her child. The Kaake family, together with the vast majority of Canadians, wants this injustice corrected by creating an offence in law for causing harm to the pre-born child during the perpetration of a violent crime against the child’s mother.
It’s clear that Justin Trudeau is willing to discuss reproductive choice. He is resolute in his belief that a woman has a right to her own reproductive choices. The question for Trudeau and his supporters is whether they will stand with those who have chosen to carry to term. The Prime Minister should consider engaging Trudeau by introducing a pre-born victims of crime bill. In doing so he would be shown to be the compassionate, reasonable leader who is standing up for women and children and victims of crime. As for Trudeau – he will be forced to show Canadians if he really does believe what he says.
]]>