The pro-lifers were trying to engage passersby outside the theatre where pro-choice supporters were marking a quarter century since abortion laws in Canada were struck down.
“Tragically today is the day that the Supreme Court threw out our pre-existing abortion law from 1969 essentially leaving it open season on unborn children,” said Stephanie Gray, executive director of the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform, who organized the protest. “It’s a sad day, it’s a day to mourn but it’s also a day to convince us that we need to make sure that we stop the killing from happening and that we make it happen in our lifetime.”
On Jan. 28, 1988 the court ruled in favour of Dr. Henry Morgentaler, striking down Canada’s abortion law on the grounds that it violated a woman’s constitutional right to personal security.
Since then pro-life advocacy organizations such as the Calgary-based Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform, which was co-founded by Gray in 2001, have been lobbying for an abortion law.
For about an hour from 6:30 p.m. Gray and her team engaged passersby outside the theatre, where a pro-choice celebration sponsored by the Ontario Coalition for Abortion Clinics and endorsed by the Medical Students for Choice U of T as well as the Arts for Choice was taking place.
Though few in numbers, the Toronto pro-life protesters were not standing alone. In Calgary, Windsor, Ont., Prince George, B.C., and London, Ont., partner groups of CCBR took to the streets to spread their message of life.
“We do that by standing with a project we call Choice Chain, which is what we are doing tonight, where we take the images of abortion and associate them with the word choice, which abortion advocates have used to advance the abortion rights movement,” said Gray. “What we’re doing is taking that positive sounding word and showing its negativity to deter people from choice when it comes to abortion. We ask passersby what they think about abortion and we train out team members in how to make a scientific and philosophical case for the pro-life perspective.”
Campaign Life Coalition youth co-ordinator Alissa Golob came out to show her support.
“This Morgentaler decision marks 25 years of abortions on demand so I think in order to be effective, standing up and being active on the street is an important element and a necessary one,” said Golob. “I’ve seen and heard so many stories and met so many people who’s minds have been changed through the images so they are effective.”
Several pedestrians expressed less positive remarks under their breath, and some at the top of their lungs, regarding the protesters and their graphic images. But that doesn’t deter Gray.
“Having held in my arms a baby who’s mother cancelled her abortion because she saw the pictures, I would say that any kind of opposition or persecution we face is worth it in terms of being able to save a baby’s life,” said Gray.