“I’ve gone the extra mile to make absolutely sure that it’s very precise and targeted to a woman who has chosen to carry her child to term.”
— MP Cathay Wagantall
Rookie Yorkton-Melville MP Cathay Wagantall has taken her first foray into federal law-making with the introduction of her private member’s bill “Cassie and Molly’s Law.”
Officially, Bill C-225, the Protection of Pregnant Women and Their Preborn Children Act, seeks to amend the Criminal Code and create two new offences for causing injury or death to an unborn child while committing or attempting to commit an offence against a pregnant woman.
The informal name of the law is a tribute to Cassandra Kaake, who, in 2014, while seven months pregnant with a daughter she had named Molly, was bludgeoned to death in her Windsor home. Matthew Brush, 26, was charged with Cassie’s murder, but under Canadian law an unborn child is not legally considered a human being, so no charge could be laid for Molly’s death.
Cassie’s and Molly’s deaths were a flashpoint for Wagantall to resurrect legislation introduced in 2007 by Alberta MP Ken Epp, which was enjoying multi-party support before it died on the order paper when the 2008 election was called.
Wagantall, who is pro-life, knew the bill would be highly controversial as a potential back door to re-igniting the abortion debate and proactively sought to craft the bill accordingly.
“I’ve gone the extra mile to make absolutely sure that it’s very precise and targeted to a woman who has chosen to carry her child to term,” Wagantall said. “First of all, there has to be a criminal offence against the woman and the person who commits that offence has to know that she’s pregnant.”
The two new offences created are causing the death of a preborn child while committing an offence and injuring a preborn child while committing an offence. The bill, if enacted, would also codify pregnancy as an aggravating circumstance in sentencing.
For the purposes of the new section of the Code, “preborn child” is defined as “a child at any stage of development that has not yet become a human being within the meaning of section 223.” That section provides protection for women seeking abortions by defining the point a child becomes a human being as “when it has completely proceeded, in a living state, from the body of its mother.”
Wagantall dismisses the “slippery slope” argument that the bill could set a precedent that could be against abortion seekers and providers.
“The truth of the matter is our Criminal Code has all kinds of laws to protect property, to protect animals, charges when a dead body is mutilated in some way, these are offences in our Criminal Code that don’t apply to human beings, so then the argument is, if this is a person who wants to have a child and family is important in our criminal law, it should cover all aspects of the family.
“[The new offences are] not standalone, they only apply in this narrow window, when a woman is attacked while she’s pregnant and it causes harm or death to the baby.”
Jeff Durham, Cassie’s partner and Molly’s father, started a national campaign called “Molly Matters” which advocates for the kinds of reform Wagantall’s bill entails.
“Without a shadow of a doubt, neither Cassie nor any pregnant victim of homicide would want their children ignored,” he said.
Durham, who is pro-choice as was Cassie, also had concerns about the possible erosion of a woman’s right to choose, but told Yorkton This Week he is satisfied C-225 accomplishes its goal without compromising a woman’s right to seek an abortion.
“Jeff’s argument is all of a woman’s choices need to be protected,” Wagantall said. “In this case, Cassie chose to have her child so our criminal law can’t be choosing to support one direction and not another.”
Wagantall said she feels honoured to be bringing forward legislation on behalf of Jeff, Cassie and Molly that fills what she believes is a significant gap in the Criminal Code.
Private member’s bills, particularly from members of non-governing parties rarely become law, but Wagantall is optimistic C-225 may be one that transcends party lines.
“Hopefully, the support will be there,” she said.
