In December of 2014, Canadian Cassie Kaake was looking forward to something: the arrival of her daughter, Molly. Unfortunately, baby Molly didn’t survive the ten weeks until her birthday.
Neither did her mom.
A couple weeks before Christmas, they were found in a burned out house. Their deaths weren’t accidental: a man has been charged for Cassie’s murder. He wasn’t charged for killing Molly, however; under Canadian law, it wasn’t a crime. Molly’s father thinks that should change.
So does Conservative MP Cathay Wagantall. Wagantall has proposed Bill C-225; dubbed “Cassie and Molly’s Law,” it would have made killing Molly a separate crime. The need for such legislation is easy to see. In America, homicide is the leading cause of death for pregnant women. As Dr. Christie L. Palladino said after her study on pregnancy and violence, “It’s not what you want to read, but it’s the reality.”
Violence against pregnant women isn’t just an American problem, as women in Canada have been stabbed and beaten to death for refusing to abort. So why would anyone oppose a law like this? Ask the abortion lobby.
A Canadian pro-life organization called We Need A Law recently explained how abortion advocates fear “Cassie and Molly’s Law” will threaten their agenda. The group’s director, Mike Schouten, took the Canadian government to task for failing to protect women who have chosen life for themselves and for their preborn children:
If the [Justin] Trudeau government truly believed that a woman’s choice is paramount, then they would have no problem justifying a woman’s choice to have a legal abortion while also supporting a law against the violent crime of killing a fetus when the pregnant woman has not chosen abortion…. If they cannot do this, the only option they support is abortion, which is really no longer a choice at all.
The Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada’s executive director had this to say about similar legislation in 2008: “If the fetuses are recognized in this bill, it could bleed into people’s consciousness and make people change their minds about abortion.” Apparently that’s more important than women’s safety.
Canadians who don’t agree can contact their member of Parliament and voice support for C-225. Meanwhile, Americans can also demand stronger laws to protect mothers and children.
Because while a lot of things are controversial, protecting a mom and her daughter shouldn’t be one of them.
