Two Charges of Homicide

As I previously stated, there are many concerns regarding Bill C-484. Just one on the list is the worry of charging someone who has killed a pregnant woman with two homicides. The argument behind this is that it implicitly gives personhood status to the unborn, which is not applied currently under Canadian law.

As it turns out, this, at least, is a misconception. For the killing of the mother, the murderer would be charged as is normal under law presently, but there would not be a second charge of homicide for the unborn. The second charge would be a lesser charge, applied in the case where the killer knew (or should have known due to the obvious shape of the woman) that the victim was pregnant. Ken Epp, the creator of the Bill, also says that his Bill should only apply in the case of a wanted child, one whom the mother has decided against aborting(http://www.kenepp.com/issues/insidepage.asp?ID=92).