Justin Trudeau accuses the Conservatives of trying again to reopen the abortion debate in Parliament. The Conservatives, on the other hand, retort that they are doing nothing of the sort, through a private member’s bill tabled by one of their elected anti-abortion representatives. C-311 would make an offense injuring a pregnant woman an aggravating factor in sentencing. A legislative change that Chief Pierre Poilievre intends to support.
Prime Minister Trudeau took care, when he arrived at the caucus of his MPs on Wednesday morning, to denounce the Conservative bill. “I want to underline how disappointed I am to see that the Conservative Party, supported by Pierre Poilievre, has chosen to reopen the debate on abortion and to attack the free choice of women,” he said. reproach.
The Conservative Party has confirmed that its leader, Mr. Poilievre, intends to vote in favor of Bill C-311 when the time comes. Bill C-311, the debate on which began in the Commons on Tuesday, proposes to add to the aggravating factors taken into account by a judge, when determining the sentence, the fact that an offense is committed against “a person [que l’on] knew she was pregnant” and that she “caused bodily or moral harm to the pregnant victim.
Colleagues of Congresswoman Cathay Wagantall, a C-311 patron who has introduced anti-abortion bills in the past, mostly declined to comment on her bill when they arrived at the party’s weekly caucus on Wednesday.
Two of them, however, defended her initiative and denied that she proposes to reopen the debate on abortion. The bill does nothing to reopen the abortion debate, argued the only two MPs to speak to the media on Wednesday morning. “This bill aims to protect gender-based violence and violence against women when they are pregnant,” insisted Michelle Rempel Garner.
Justin Trudeau and the Liberals don’t believe it. Anti-abortion groups, which will hold their annual march on Parliament Hill on Thursday, have called it a “great victory,” according to the prime minister. “They are the ones who see it as an interesting tool,” he said.
As for this desire to make an offense against a pregnant woman an aggravating factor? “I think judges can be trusted a lot when they make decisions about the different factors in a crime,” he replied.
Cathay Wagantall announced the arrival of her bill at last year’s annual anti-abortion march in Ottawa.
Further details will follow.