Kitchener MP Stephen Woodworth is taking aim at a section of the Criminal Code that defines a child as a human being only when it can breathe on its own and is severed from the umbilical cord. He says the law was first drafted in Britain in the 1700s but is based on “limited medical knowledge” that needs to be updated.
“Don’t accept any law that says some human beings are not human beings. Nothing justifies it,” he told reporters Monday.
Woodworth wants a special committee to review medical evidence about when a child can be considered a human being separate from the mother. He also wants that committee of seven Tory MPs, four New Democrats and one Liberal to examine the legal impact of denying full human rights to an unborn child.
It will be debated in March, then again in June, followed by a vote of the House of Commons.
But even as he was speaking Monday morning, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson sent out an emailed statement saying that while the government had no power to influence motions from individual MPs, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has promised not to re-open the debate on abortion.
Harper has promised to rally the votes to defeat initiatives designed to repeal abortion rights.
It is an edict that backbench Tory MPs seem unwilling to accept.
“Mr. Harper will speak for himself. He does it very well. I, of course, speak for myself and I know that I’m very comfortable as a member of Parliament proposing private members’ business on this issue.”
Woodworth is decidedly less comfortable putting forward his opinions about what point in the fetal gestation period the unborn child should be granted full human rights. He refused to say whether he believes that life begins at conception or at some later point in development before birth.
“I would like to hear all of the evidence. I have gone out of my way as I should in initiating any conversation to not say, ‘This is the way it’s going to be,’” he said.
He did acknowledge that his proposal could have implications on abortion rights in Canada.
“Once we decide whether or not a child is a human being before birth then we can have an honest conversation about all of the other issues, weighing rights and interests and this would be the subject of another parliamentary debate or maybe a court investigation,” he said.
“It’s not something that one can really even begin to address until first we decide whether a child is a human being before birth.”
Original Article
Source: Star
Author: Allan Woods
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