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In 2014, a man killed my pregnant wife and our unborn, but viable, child. The law says he committed one murder

In response to this legal reality, we started a campaign and named it Molly Matters. We want a law to acknowledge such crimes for what is real, not just what is legally convenient. No family in Canada should have to go through what we have, and no woman’s choice should be overlooked in our court of law.

Through the Molly Matters campaign we have gathered more than 15,000 signatures from across Canada. We have held rallies and protests, but most importantly, we are bringing Canadians together from across the political spectrum, and from both sides of the abortion debate.

Conservative MP Cathay Wagantall, who introduced Bill C-225 or “Cassie and Molly’s Law,” has stayed true to our cause and made certain it was something everyone could support. This law adds to women’s rights by protecting a pregnant woman when she chooses to carry her pre-born child to term, and it does so in such a way that could not interfere with a woman’s right to terminate a pregnancy. Our local New Democratic Party representatives in Windsor and Essex acknowledge this is an issue that needs to transcend party politics. Members of the Liberal Party have also shown great compassion for our story and have agreed to table our petitions.

I am pleading with Canadians to look at this for what it is, and to set aside the conventional notion and consider choice and life as one. Consider what should happen when that choice and life are violently torn away by the bloodied hands of a criminal who should have no right to either.

There is a profound hole in our justice system. It has swallowed Cassie’s choice and any hope of real justice for our family. This law would fill that hole. Please let it speak for itself. Cassie and our daughter Molly deserve no less.

National Post

Jeff Durham is the father of Molly and speaks for the Molly Matters campaign. Learn more at MollyMatters.org.