On Friday, May 3, the Supreme Court of Canada released R. v. Levkovic, a constitutional challenge to the crime of concealing the body of a child which has died “before, during or after birth”. Ivana Levkovic convinced an Ontario Superior Court judge that, because the Criminal Code provided no guidance as to how to interpret the term “before birth”, the law was vague. The Ontario Court of Appeal disagreed and ordered her to stand trial. The Supreme Court of Canada dismissed her appeal. While Levkovic deals with a rarely prosecuted offence, the case garnered attention because some people speculated that the Court might wade into the debate over when a foetus becomes a “human being.” I did an interview with CTV News where I explain why that didn’t happen.
Unfortunately the CTV link is no longer active.