A Ghost from Christmas Past: Bill C-43
Toronto, Nov 18, 2013 – Various media have been reporting on the recently released federal cabinet documents regarding the 1989 Bill C-43. Campaign Life Coalition (CLC) was deeply involved in fighting this Bill because it offered absolutely no protection to the child before birth. On November 4, 1989, a Montreal Gazette editorial stated that "the government has wholly ducked the rights of the fetus. The law does not even refer to fetal rights." That same day, another editorial in The Globe and Mail claimed that "access to abortion will be easier and quicker under this Bill."
Today’s articles appeared to praise the Senate for defeating the Bill by a tie vote in 1991. It neglected to mention that the Senator who was most involved in its defeat was the late Senator Dr. Stanley Haidasz who waged a one-man battle against C-43 in the Senate. His efforts finally ensured that pro-life delegations could speak to the Senate committee which was only hearing from the pro-abortion side. Then Campaign Life Coalition and other groups were given leave to speak.
The CLC delegation said to the committee and continues to say in 2013 that life is a continuum. It is not measured in weeks, inches or pounds. A human being exists and is alive from the time of conception (fertilization). Abortion, at any time after conception, kills a developing human being.
"Bill C-43 was designed to help the aborting doctors and would not save unborn children. If it had passed as presented by Brian Mulroney’s government, abortion would have been legalized in Canada," said Jim Hughes, National President of Campaign Life Coalition. "The Supreme Court decision of 1988 did not give women a right to abortion."
The late Dr. Bernard Nathanson, a former abortionist and co-founder of the American pro-abortion movement who later became an advocate for the rights of the unborn, and whom Senator Haidasz also arranged to speak at the time of the bill, said "it is a fatally flawed piece of legislation. C-43 is worded in such a vague manner that it would permit everything from abortion done in mobile vans, as is currently the case in Texas, to abortions legally enshrined."
Campaign Life Coalition believes that no law is better than a bad law.
About Campaign Life Coalition
Campaign Life Coalition is a national, non-profit organization involved in political action and advocacy for legal and cultural change in Canada with respect to protecting human life and the family. It is non-partisan and encourages voting based on principles, not party. For more information visit www.campaignlifecoalition.com.
Media Contacts:
Jim Hughes, National President of Campaign Life Coalition 416-204-9749
Mary Ellen Douglas, National Organizer Campaign Life Coalition, 613-389-4472
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