(The following articles are from the May 1-15, 2008, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

Statement from the Central Executive Committee and the Women's Commission of the Communist Party of Canada, April 21, 2008:

   The Communist Party of Canada joins with other equity seeking groups in opposition to Conservative MP Ken Epps' private member Bill C484, "Unborn Victims of Crime". This bill narrowly passed second reading in Parliament on March 5, 2008 and is another Conservative Party attempt to pass dangerously reactionary legislation by stealth. The bill, which attempts to re-criminalize abortion by giving fetuses a form of legal personhood, is being vigorously promoted by anti-choice and far right groups. These groups recognize that the law, if passed, will endanger not only abortion rights, but the right of pregnant women, and the constitutional rights of women in general.

     The five recent murder cases in Canada, which involved a pregnant woman being murdered by a male partner or boyfriend, are horrific, but should not be used as the pretext for this bill. Homicide is the leading cause of death for pregnant women in Canada. But this bill will not protect those women. What women desperately need are more resources to reduce violence against women:

* Funding for women's advocacy and education programs especially the Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada (CCAAC); the National Association of Women and the Law (NAWL); the Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action (FAFIA); and the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women (CRIAW)

* More resources for regional women's centres

* More resources for family law legal aid

     Instead, this Conservative government and their provincial allies have slashed funding in these critical areas.

     Bill C484, which technically exempts both abortion and pregnant women from prosecution, is similar to laws in US states which have been used to target pregnant women for actions perceived to harm their fetuses. In practice, these "feticide" laws create a dangerous slippery slope towards the criminalizing of pregnant women for behaviour that is not criminalized for anyone else.

     Canada has legal precedent supporting the equality of rights of women, including pregnant women's sovereignty over their fetuses (Supreme Court's Dobson vs Dobson, 1999). Canada's Criminal Code says "A child becomes a human being... when it has completely proceeded, in a living state, from the body of its mother." This bill - if passed undermines the rule of law, as it is contradictory to legal precedent and the Criminal Code - and thus throws women's rights into confusion.

     Canada already has the legal capacity to increase penalties to men convicted of harming pregnant women. All this bill does is undermine the rights of all women.

     We encourage all concerned citizens to contact their MPs and urge them to oppose this Bill C484 in parliament.