Andrea Giesbrecht of Winnipeg, Canada has been arrested and charged with six counts of concealing the body of achild after the bodies of six infants were found in a U-Haul storage facility. The discovery was made when U-Haul employees went in to clean outthe locker because rental payments had not been made.
Police spokesman Eric Hofley told the media, "Autopsies are pending, but my understanding is we are discussing very young infants, certainly not children. Newborns." The autopsies are being done to determine the cause of death, their ages, and if Giesbrecht is mother to all of the babies.
CBC reporter Caroline Barghout tweeted that the woman’s lawyer Greg Brodsky, referred to the remains as “bodies or possible fetuses.” While it is proper to find out as much as possible from the autopsies for the purposes of uncovering the truth about what happened, on a moral level the age of the babies ultimately does not change its gruesomeness. The fact of the matter is that six completely helpless human beings were found dead.
If it is discovered that she was mother to all of them and that she was the one who killed them, whether they were pre-term aborted babies or killed post-birth, would that change the fact that it was a gross violation of human dignity?
Her lawyer said that Giesbrecht was first arrested forhomicide but those charges were changed to theoffense of concealing bodies. Why?
I wonder if that has anything to do with the age of the babies. It is hard to reconcile Canada’s permissive abortion laws and the grey zone in its criminal code concerning live-birth abortions with its homicide laws. It is estimated that between 2000 to 2009, 491 aborted fetuses were born alive in Canada and exhibited “evidence of life” following their removal from the womb, such as heartbeat, gasping or crying.
There is no difference in dignity between babies within the womb or outside of it, between “wanted” or “unwanted” babies. Their age or level of development does not dictate their inherent value. Humans have dignity by the very fact that they are human and violence against any innocent human life is a grave injustice. So says reason. So says conscience. So says God.