Bill C-484 Dies

I see that in their preparations for a fall election, Harper has killed Bill C-484 in favor of a yet to be tabled piece of legislation.

Justice Minister Rob Nicholson announced Monday that the government will draft a new bill to replace Bill C-484, the Unborn Victims of Crime Act, so that it closes the debate about fetal rights and focuses instead on penalizing criminals who harm pregnant women.

Hmmm...isn't there already a bill before the house that does that? Why yes, yes there is - Bill C-543.

I suspect that this is little more than Harper realizing that C-484 is a political hot potatoe, and he can't afford to give the oppositions a club:

A free vote in March on Mr. Epp's bill passed in the Commons 147 to 132. Mr. Harper voted in favour, as did more than 25 Liberals. Mr. Dion was absent. Four Conservatives, including cabinet ministers Lawrence Cannon, Gordon O'Connor and Josée Verner, voted against the bill.

Now, the problem here is that the majority of the Conservative caucus voted for this bill, in spite of its many blatant flaws, and the obvious attempt at creating a legislative wedge to introduce the concept of 'fetal recognition' in law. This tells me a great deal about what the current 'front lines' of the CPC really represent, and it's not pretty. The fact that Harper allowed this bill to fester its way along this far without killing it sooner suggests strongly that Harper is not only deeply anti-choice, but that he is not above 'back door legislation' to achieve his goals.

Bill C-484 may be effectively moribund at this point, but feminists would do well to consider carefully the implications of putting their 'X' beside the local CPC candidate in any future election.