The father of Cassandra Kaake's unborn daughter, Molly, fears his effort to get justice is being co-opted by those in the abortion debate.
Jeff Durham is fighting for legislative changes recognizing Molly's death after Kaake's murder last December.
He says support for both an online and paper petition have been strong, and former Essex MP Jeff Watson applauded Durham's effort. However, getting the support of Windsor-Essex's NDP MPs has been another matter.
"Especially our local members of parliament refuse to view it as something different from the abortion debate," he says. "Abortion is about a woman's choice. This was exactly contrary to a woman's choice. So in my mind I would think any advocate for a woman's choice would be standing up for Cassie and what she chose. And they're not."
Kaake was seven months pregnant at the time of her death almost a year ago.
Durham admits he's fought to correct online comments suggesting his law, making it a separate illegal act to kill an unborn child during an act of violence against the fetus's mother, could lead to making abortion illegal in Canada.
Windsor West MP Brian Masse says he can't support it, and his opposition has nothing to do with the abortion debate. The problem is, in Canada sentences are served concurrently and not consecutively.
"The judge can actually already create a stiffer sentence (in cases involving violence against a pregnant woman)," says Masse. "The separation into two distinguished cases can actually lead to lesser of a sentence, from the analysis that we've had back in the House of Commons."
Matthew Brush faces six charges in Kaake's death including first-degree murder and arson with disregard to human life.