This Man Cares About The Rights of The Individual

(...He just wants to change who legally qualifies as an individual so that he can take away your individual right to choose...you don't want that right. It's a bad right. Let uncle Ken teach you about right and wrong.)

Conservative MP, Ken Epp (Edmonton - Sherwood Park, see photo) has introduced a private members bill to the House of Commons which could very likely act as a catalyst to re-criminalizing abortion in Canada. The proposed Unborn Victims of Crime Act (Bill C-484) would alter the criminal code so that a person who knowingly kills the fetus of a pregnant woman would be charged with murder.

According to Mr. Epp, the bill is designed to allow for someone who kills or severely injures a pregnant woman, and in doing so terminates the pregnancy, to be charged with up to two counts of murder. He claims that he was moved to propose his bill after being appalled that several families of various murdered pregnant women were unable to have the satisfaction of having the murders charged with also murdering the fetus. However, Mr. Epp has also stated publicly that he is "pro-life" (which, in an April 16 As It Happens interview, he tried to confuse with pro-choice), and so his rationale for his introducing the bill can be legitimately viewed as suspicious.

While Mr. Epp points out that the bill specifically states that the intent of the act would not be to criminalize abortion, when applied along with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, it would affectively make abortion a criminal act. By changing the definition of an unborn child from just a fetus to a human, an unborn child would be given all of the same rights and freedoms as any other human. Thus, ending an unborn child's life through abortion would constitute murder.

Although seemingly acting to defend and avenge the victims of murders and their families, Mr. Epp is may very well be using examples of murdered pregnant women to re-criminalize abortion, which has been legal since 1988. Bill C-484 passed second reading on March 5, 2008 with the support of both the Conservative Party of Canada and the Liberal Party of Canada.

To read Mr. Epp's proposed amendment to the criminal code, go to:

http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=3127600&Language=f&Mode=1&File=30

For CBC's story on opposition to the bill from Quebec physicians, go to:

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2008/04/16/bill-abortion.html

To voice your opinion to Mr. Epp, go to:

http://www.kenepp.com/

ABC...easy as 123