Individual Rights vs Collective Rights. Is there a problem?
Sometimes under the name of democracy, individual rights are at risk of being voted away. A basic right is not something that can be voted away. Democratic elections or referendum should not be used as a weapon against a minority by a majority. The same can be said for judicial activism.
The Supreme Court of Canada interprets the Canadian Charter as to what our basic rights involve. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms declared that Canadians had a basic right to life. In the section under Legal rights we find 'a right to life.'
Life, liberty and security of person
7. Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of the person and the right not to be deprived thereof except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice.
Did that mean everyone? including the unborn. In 1969, the Parliament of Canada passed a law that allowed for abortion in many circumstances and therefore ruled against the right to life of the unborn. In 1988, the Supreme Court of Canada tossed out any legal restriction against abortion. It was called the Morgentaler decision.
Today, in Canada, there is no time before birth that the unborn child has the legal right to life. This issue is truly a global issue. At a local level, last Thursday, I marched with about 1400 person across down town Edmonton for the rights of the unborn.
R. v. Morgentaler [1] was a decision of the Supreme Court of Canada which held that the abortion provision in the Criminal Code of Canada was unconstitutional, as it violated a woman's right under section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to security of person. Since this ruling, there have been no criminal laws regulating abortion in Canada.
(reprinted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._v._Morgentaler)
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