Police trying to decide if they will lay a second murder charge
The B.C. Catholic
The tragic death of a mother and son is shedding light on a missing piece of Canadian law, says a pro-life activist.
Candice Rochelle Bobb of Etobicoke, Ont., was 24 weeks pregnant when she was shot and killed while riding in the back seat of a car May 15.
Thanks to an emergency C-section, her son was born alive and lived for exactly three weeks after his mother’s death. Police and legal experts are deciding if they will lay one or two murder charges.
“The law is pretty clear that in situations like this, as tragic as they are, there needs to be a second charge laid,” said local activist Mike Schouten.
The Criminal Code states that a child only becomes a human being when “it has completely proceeded, in a living state, from the body of its mother.” It then adds: “a person commits homicide when he causes injury to a child before or during its birth as a result of which the child dies after becoming a human being.”
That means police should, and likely will, introduce a second murder charge, Schouten said. However the hesitation to do so and the ensuing debate bring up an important point about Canadian law.
“I think the hesitation is a result of the fact that our laws are not reflective of reality: that the child in the womb is a member of the human family,” he said.
“It’s a very sad commentary on the status quo in Canada.”
Because Bobb’s son was born alive after the attack, the justice system may recognize his death as murder. But Schouten warned that children whose mothers are attacked and don’t make it out of the birth canal alive don’t get that recognition.
“There is no justice for children who are injured or killed in the womb as a result of a criminal offence perpetrated against a pregnant woman.”
Schouten, head of the pro-life organization WeNeedALaw, hopes Bill C-225, also known as Cassie and Molly’s Law, will close that loophole.
Cassandra Kaake, from Windsor, Ont., was seven months pregnant with a girl she had already named Molly when she was brutally attacked and killed and her home was set on fire in 2014.
Because Molly was still in the womb when she died, the law did not recognize her death as homicide.
“A woman’s right to choose is only protected if the woman chooses to have an abortion,” Schouten said.
“If the woman chooses to carry her child to term, and a third party comes and takes away the choice of that woman, as a result of which the child is injured or dies, there is no justice in that situation.”
MP Cathay Wagantall brought forward Bill C-225, also called the Protection of Pregnant Women and Their Preborn Children Act, in May.
“This legislation honours and protects a woman’s right to choose to give birth to her baby free from harm committed by others against her will,” Wagantall said.
According to WeNeedALaw, 20,000 postcards and hundreds of emails and phone calls have been made to MPs in support of Bill C-225. The bill will come up for its second hour of debate in September.
