Canadian "Unborn Victims of Crime Act" To Be Voted on in March

Canadian Press: Tory MP's bill to recognize unborn crime victims raises abortion rights alarm:

OTTAWA - A Conservative MP brought the families of murdered women to Parliament Hill on Thursday to back legislation that would treat unborn babies as separate victims when their mothers are killed or attacked.

Ken Epp said his private member's bill is needed to legally recognize the unborn when they are slain or harmed by crimes against their mothers.

The Unborn Victims of Crime Act is narrowly focused to allow charges only where a fetus is hurt during a criminal act, he told a news conference.

But the bill, to be voted on March 5, has been assailed by critics who say it's a sneaky bid to slip fetal rights into Canadian law.

For more on the problems with fetal rights laws, and for alternative ways of drafting "unborn victims of crime" laws that avoid these issues, see this post.