Media Release
June 21, 2006

Alberta Pro-Life Alliance Association applauds Liberal MP Paul Steckle for his Private Member's Bill protecting unborn babies in the later stages of pregnancy.

"It is encouraging to see that there are MPs who will speak for the majority of Canadians who believe there should be some legal protection for babies before birth," said Patty Nixon, executive director of APL.

Mr. Steckle's bill is entitled "An Act to amend the Criminal Code (procuring a miscarriage after twenty weeks of gestation)". It would make abortions performed after 20 weeks gestation illegal.

Mrs. Nixon said that it is difficult to know how many abortions are performed after 20 weeks because statistics on abortion are not well reported. However, according to Statistics Canada, in 2003 there were 3,000 abortions performed after 16 weeks gestation. It is difficult to know how many of those were later than 20 weeks.

"We do know from Alberta Health statistics that in this province in 2002 there were 39 post-20 week abortions. Alberta usually represents about 10% of the abortions in the country so this suggests there are probably close to 400 late-term abortions in Canada each year," she said.

Mrs. Nixon pointed out that since we do not track reasons for abortions, it will be difficult for abortion advocates to say these abortions were all medically necessary. The Guttmacher Institute in the U.S., which supports abortion on demand, has surveyed women and found that 3% of abortions are performed for health reasons.

"The reality is that almost all abortions are performed for reasons that have nothing to do with health," said Mrs. Nixon. "They are performed for social and personal reasons."

Nixon said that an October 2005 Environics poll found that 60% of Canadians said human life should be protected at some stage before birth.

That is consistent with Gallup and other polls over the past 30 years.

"We have no protection whatsoever for babies in the womb now in Canada and taxpayers pay for most abortions performed in this country. Those same taxpayers believe that these tiny human beings deserve the same right to life guaranteed to all people in section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Mr. Steckle's bill extends that charter right to a fraction of human babies in the womb and we applaud it as a very positive first step in protecting all human beings."

For more information, call Patty Nixon at 780-421-7747 or Joanne Byfield at 780-445-0344