On July 20, 1984, at noon, a press conference was held in committee room Number One, in Toronto City Hall, by Henry Morgentaler and his legal counsel Morris Manning. The purpose of the conference was to give their reaction to Judge Parker’s decision, denying the motion that their indictment had been unconstitutional.
Committee Room Number One is adjacent to the Mayor’s office. It had been booked by Alderman Jack Layton ten days previously. Alderman Layton then went on vacation and handed over the space to the Ontario Coalition for Abortion Clinics (OCAC).
Prior to the conference beginning, only the press and the pro-abortionists had been allowed into the committee room. It was only after the persistence of a pro-lifer questioning the security guards outside the committee room and protesting to City hall officials, as to why the public could not be admitted – that the doors were finally opened to the public.
On questioning how Alderman Layton had been allowed to procure Committee Room Number One for a group of pro-abortionists, the Interim was informed that the committee rooms maybe booked by any alderman. Although supposedly only for municipal business. Alderman Jack Layton is a member of the N.D.P. – Canada’s pro-abortion party.
Fifty pro-lifers, carrying placards, showed up to protest this press conference, but they were not permitted inside City hall. However, they paraded outside during the conference and, when Morgentaler and Manning left, the pro-lifers followed them to Manning’s office on Bay Street.
