Joyce Arthur: Hey Parliament, Keep Your Laws Off my Body. Canadian women won equality rights 27 years ago when the gender equality clause in our Charter of Rights and Freedoms took effect in 1985.
Our Supreme Court has since protected and advanced women's constitutional rights on numerous occasions. Yet, several times since the turn of the 21st century, Parliament has seen fit to debate whether women's rights should be restricted. How can this happen? I'm speaking of course of the abortion debate, in which anti-choicers pretend that it's all about saving an unprotected class of "human beings" -- fetuses and embryos -- and not about completely subordinating pregnant women to their childbearing function, including forcing women by law to forfeit their own health and lives if necessary. Law on slaying unborn in effect. A new law effective today recognizes unborn victims of crime, allowing prosecutors to file two murder charges against someone accused of killing a pregnant woman.
The law is named for Ethen, the unborn child of Jenna Nielsen, a Wake County woman who was eight months pregnant when she was stabbed to death on June 14, 2007. The fetal protection law is among 35, mostly criminal laws, approved earlier this year that take effect today. North Carolina is now among 36 states that have laws that partially or fully recognize unborn victims of crimes. "It's important because in so many cases these women are being murdered because they're pregnant," said House Speaker Pro Tem Dale Folwell, R-Forsyth, one of the state legislators who pushed for the change.
How Frightened Patriarchal Men Have Tried to Repress Women's Sexuality Through History. May 29, 2012 | Like this article?
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