McLeod does not support fellow MPs’ abortion probe
While Kamloops’ pro-life activists are supporting a trio of Conservative MPs calling for an investigation into “homicides” stemming from later-term abortions, the city’s Conservative MP isn’t interested in taking up the call.
“I’m not getting into the specifics of their letter,” Cathy McLeod told KTW when reached for comment in Ottawa.
“I haven’t read their letter and I’ve been in meetings all day, so I haven’t had a chance to look at the details.”
The three MPs — Maurice Vellacott, Leon Benoit and Wladyslaw Lizon — have penned a letter to the RCMP, asking the force to investigate cases in which late-term abortions have resulted in live births, with the newborns dying shortly after.
The trio highlights Statistics Canada data originally published on the pro-life blog Run With Life, which shows 491 reported cases of this type of abortion between 2000 and 2009.
“These killings appear to have started out as attempted abortions, but the babies were born alive,” the MPs write.
“According to the Criminal Code, a child is considered to be a human being and a person after proceeding fully from the mother’s womb, therefore . . . there should be 491 homicide investigations or prosecutions in connection with these deaths.”
The Kamloops Pro Life society has since issued its own call for an investigation and group spokeswoman Marlene Campbell said the numbers show Canada needs some restrictions on when abortions can be performed in the course of a pregnancy.
“Later-term abortions, this is a result, that they’re born alive sometimes,” she said.
“And, sometimes they only take a few breaths. I realize that, but sometimes they don’t and they struggle and, with a bit of help, they might survive.”
Campbell would like to see the country adopt legislation similar to the Born Alive Protection Act in the United States, which extends legal protection to infants born after failed abortion attempts.
She said the MPs’ letter should be a wakeup call for Canadians who don’t understand how few restrictions on abortion there are in the country.
“It seems to me that we have really descended to infanticide,” she said.
McLeod believes it’s important for the government to “stay focused” on its economic agenda, rather than getting drawn into a debate around abortion.
“Our government’s been really clear — we’re not going to open this debate and we stand by that commitment,” she said.
“I think the issue has been settled in terms of the Canadian public and it is a decision, a very private decision and a very difficult decision, between the mother, her partner and the doctor.”
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