Why the "Unborn Victims of Crime" Bill is a bad idea

How did it pass under my radar that Parliament passed Bill C-484 last week, just in time for International Women’s Day? This is big news. This is a big issue. Everyone should be talking about it. I’m not even going to get into the fact that the NDP allowed this to pass, and that Stephane Dion wasn’t even present to offer a “yea” or “nay”. Really, you care that much?

Bill C-484, the so-called “Unborn Victims of Crime Act” is a private member's bill from Conservative MP Ken Epp. Its stated purpose is to change the criminal code to ensure that someone who has harmed/murdered a pregnant woman is also accountable and punishable for the loss of the fetus.

On the surface, this may sound like a good idea. All murder is tragic and disapproved of, but the violent murder of a pregnant woman in particular, a culturally constructed symbol of purity, beauty, and life, is always taken by the public as one of the most abhorred tragedies. Everyone agrees this shouldn't happen, and I'm sure we've all imagined vigilante justice against those calmly arrogant husbands who deliver teary-eyed pleas to news crews, then lead the search party to the body three days later.

It is notable that Epp is an MP from Edmonton Sherwood. Edmonton saw two pregnant women murdered by their partners in the past two years. It is an issue that touches everyone in a community. However, MPs should be pushing preventative measures, not adding more punishment for crimes already committed. I haven't even gotten to the MAIN glaring problem with the bill:

Bill C-484 is a reactionary, anti-choice band-aid that will do NOTHING to curb the occurrence of domestic violence, or stop men from killing their pregnant partners. The Bill directly contravenes the current Supreme Court of Canada ruling that a woman and her fetus are considered “one person.” Not only is it an unproductive paper-based policy, it is sneakily and smugly worded using anti-choice terminology that allows Harper’s government to underhandedly legislate abortion (something Harper has promised not to do) without actually having to go through the process of overtly re-criminalizing it.

This Bill WILL NOT protect women from violence and murder.
It will only allow for loopholes to challenge a woman's constitutional right to terminate an unwanted pregnancy (a pregnancy that often further endangers her if she is in an abusive relationship).

It enforces already existing stratification of victims, adding pregnant/unpregnant to a list that differentiates “high-risk” women (i.e. sex workers), whose bodies currently dot both urban and rural wildernesses, from other women (you’re telling me that living with a violent/abusive man is not high-risk?). We do not need a valuation system that says a murderer should get less time for killing an unpregnant woman.

Before couching protectionism in anti-choice rhetoric, we need solid measures taken
- to ensure that women can escape abusive relationships,
- to ensure restraining orders are taken seriously and enforced,
- to maintain funding of shelters for women and children,
- and to provide resources to social aid workers/physicians, etc, to spot the signs of abuse and prevent the escalation of violence once a woman becomes pregnant (which is often when day-to-day abuse and bullying turns to violence).

Bill C-484 is meaningless without these measures.

(image source Prevention Ads)

“Pregnant and recently pregnant women are more likely to be victims of homicide than to die of any other cause, and evidence exists that a significant proportion of all female homicide victims are killed by their intimate partners.” source