On December 21, 2011, backbench Member of Parliament Stephen Woodworth issued a statement calling for the Canadian government to investigate its lack of abortion legislation, and called for human rights protections to be extended to the fetus:

"Canadian law provides no human rights protection whatsoever for children before the moment of complete birth. This results from an unusual Canadian statute which defines a human being as a child who has completely proceeded in a living state from the mother's body, whether or not the child has breathed. This means that in Canada a child is legally considered to be sub-human while his or her little toe remains in the birth canal, even if he or she is breathing."