“We’ll use this as an opportunity,” said Elizabeth Crouchman, president and chair of New Brunswick Right to Life. “I could say that we are going to give up and close our office but that is not what we do. We have to stand for what is right regardless of who will listen or what laws will be changed or whose minds will be changed.

“We continue on because it is the right thing to do, it is the honourable thing to do and it is our duty.”

Crouchman was responding to the Sept. 22 election of a majority Liberal government under new Premiere Brian Gallant. He has promised changes to New Brunswick laws to allow open access abortion. Abortion became an election issue following the announcement earlier that the province’s Morgentaler Abortion Clinic would close.

Mirroring federal Liberal leader Justin Trudeau, Gallant will force party members to always vote in favour of abortion legislation. He also intends to overturn existing legislation that requires women to gain approval from two doctors to qualify for a publicly funded abortion.

New Brunswick is one of six provinces in Canada to fund abortions. “We as pro-lifers can make our position clear to Mr. Gallant so he can hear another side,” Crouchman said. “We will attempt to get an audience with some great people to make our case.”

Right to Life employed a number of tactics, such as public surveys and advertising in local media, to raise awareness of Gallant’s intentions leading up to the election. “Woman, in order to make an informed consent, must be given adequate and accurate information,” she said.