Jun 06, 2008 – Susan Delacourt – Toronto Star

OTTAWA–Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Rona Ambrose, one of the most socially progressive members of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government, is throwing her support behind a controversial private member’s bid to legally recognize the rights of the unborn.

Ambrose made a rare step into public debate yesterday to tell reporters she backs the so-called Unborn Victims of Crime Act, or C-484, a proposed bill put forward by Conservative MP Ken Epp (Edmonton-Sherwood Park), which critics are calling a back-door method to give the fetus rights and make abortions more difficult to obtain in Canada.

Epp says his bill specifically states that it doesn’t apply to abortion, and Ambrose, who worked with women’s shelters in her pre-political life, said yesterday the bill is about crime, not abortion. Read the rest of the story here.