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Manitoba MP Niki Ashton is expecting a baby in November, the NDP leadership hopeful announced Monday.

Ashton is one of 39 NDP MP’s who voted against Cassie and Molly’s Law (Bill C-225) – a bill that would have made it a criminal offence to kill an unborn baby while committing a crime against the mother.

The law did nothing to change a woman’s freedom to choose to terminate her own pregnancy but it would have made it a serious crime when non-consensual termination was forced upon her.

“I’m happy to share the news that I’m expecting,” Ashton said.

Cassandra Kaake of ‘Cassie and Molly’s Law’ and Ashton were born less than a year apart. Kaake was 31 years old and seven and a half months pregnant with a girl named Molly when she was murdered.

Like Ashton, it was Kaake’s first child.

Ashton made a statement, “Like millions of Canadian women I will carry on my work. This means continuing to reach out to New Democrats, activists and progressives across the country to build a movement for social, environmental and economic justice for all.”

Family members of Cassie and Molly continue to feel that justice was not served. Their letters to law maker Ashton went unanswered.

As her pregnancy progresses they wonder if Ashton will be better able to understand the need for legislation that would view the non-consensual termination of a woman’s pregnancy as a serious crime.

You can reach the office of Niki Ashton at niki.ashton@parl.gc.ca