Maurice Vellacott has tabled two motions that would establish a parliamentary committee to examine the legal obligations owed to pre born children.
On Dec. 6, Conservative MP Maurice Vellacott (Saskatoon-Wanuskewin) filed a pair of pro-life motions. (Both Motions M-482 and M-483 listed below)
Both motions call for the creation of parliamentary committees to examine the rights of the unborn. M-484 calls for the House of Commons to establish a 12-member committee to investigate “Parliament’s responsibility” to legislate on abortion as it relates to all Supreme Court decisions affecting preborn life going back to the 1988 Morgentaler decision.
The other motion, M-483, would create a 12-member committee to examine what “legal protections Canada ought to provide to children before birth” in accordance with the country’s obligations under the United Nations Convention of the Child. The Convention, signed by Canada in 1991, states that “the child, by reason of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth.”
In either case, the committee would be required to report back to the House of Commons within six months of the motion passing.
Vellacott said he hopes to reignite a parliamentary debate on abortion and preborn life, noting, “the most basic of all rights is the right to life.” He told LifeSiteNews, “we have nothing to run from and nothing to fear – or hide from – when we’re pursuing truth and seeking out truth,” explaining why his motions should not be considered controversial.
Mary Ellen Douglas, national organizer for Campaign Life Coalition, welcomed the debate these motions might facilitate. “The legal void we have (on abortion) has left unborn children at the mercy of people who want to destroy them, and certainly that should be corrected.”
Canada has not had an abortion law in effect since the 1988 Morgentaler decision struck down the 1969 abortion law requiring therapeutic abortion committees approve an abortion request. Pro-lifers note that TACs approved almost every request and did not serve to limit abortion.
Justice Bertha Wilson, a supporter of abortion rights, said in her concurrent decision in Morgentaler that the abortion “question in this country must be left to Parliament,” and that “it is for Parliament to pronounce on and to direct social policy … because Parliament is elected for that purpose in a free democracy.”
The Mulroney government responded by introducing C-43, an abortion law that permitted the procedure when the mother’s physical or emotional health were at risk. Pro-lifers at the time said the bill would not effectively restrict abortion and although it passed in the House of Commons in 1990, it was defeated in July 1991 on a tie vote in the Senate. Since then, Parliament has not considered an abortion law and abortion is carried out in Canada in a legal vacuum that tolerates the procedure.
Vellacott’s name is expected to be added to the Order of Precedence when the House of Commons resumes in late January. Vellacott also has an “equal parenting” bill on the Order Paper and must choose which one of the motions or bills he will introduce.
Bill C-560, “An Act to amend the Divorce Act (equal parenting) and to make consequential amendments to other Acts,” would direct the courts to make equal shared parenting the presumptive arrangement in divorce, except in proven cases of abuse or neglect.
Under the standing orders of the House of Commons, MPs can place up to four items of private members’ business (motions or bills) on the Order Paper, but only one can be brought forward for second reading when their name comes up on the Order of Precedence.
The Toronto Star reported that both motions are “almost certainly doomed to fail” considering Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s insistence on not allowing a debate on abortion in the House.
Whatever motion or bill Vellacott chooses, he likely will not get another chance to bring forth another item as MP. In July he announced he would not seek re-election in 2015.
Jim Hughes, national president of Campaign Life Coalition, told The Interim that Vellacott, a MP that already has a perfect pro-life and pro-family record according to CLC, would “enhance his pro-life legacy if he convinces Parliament to fulfill its duty to debate and vote on the most important issue facing Canada.”
Full texts of Vellacott’s motions
M-482
That a special committee of the House be appointed to: (a) study the decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada since 1988 related to children before birth in order to understand what the Supreme Court has said about Parliament’s responsibility with respect to resolving public policy questions in this area; (b) propose options that the House and/or the government could take to address any negative impact these decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada may have had, directly or indirectly, on women, men, children and Canadian society; and that the committee consist of twelve members which shall include seven members from the government party, four members from the Official Opposition and one member from the Liberal Party, provided that the Chair be from the government party; that in addition to the Chair, there be one Vice-chair from each of the opposition parties; that the committee have all of the powers of a Standing Committee as provided in the Standing Orders; that the members to serve on the said committee be appointed by the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs and the membership report of the special committee be presented to the House no later than 20 sitting days after the adoption of this motion; that membership substitutions be permitted to be made from time to time, if required, in the manner provided for in Standing Order 114(2); and that the Committee report its recommendations to the House no later than 6 months after the adoption of this order.
M-483
That a special committee of the House be appointed to determine what legal protections Canada ought to provide to children before birth, in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Canada ratified in 1991, which states that “the child, by reason of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth“; and that the committee consist of twelve members which shall include seven members from the government party, four members from the Official Opposition and one member from the Liberal Party, provided that the Chair be from the government party; that in addition to the Chair, there be one Vice-Chair from each of the opposition parties; that the committee have all of the powers of a Standing Committee as provided in the Standing Orders; that the members to serve on the said committee be appointed by the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs and the membership report of the special committee be presented to the House no later than 20 sitting days after the adoption of this motion; that membership substitutions be permitted to be made from time to time, if required, in the manner provided for in Standing Order 114(2); and that the Committee present its final report to the House no later than 6 months after the adoption of this order.
