Campaign Life members and the Renfrew County Right to Life group picketed Premier David Peterson as he attended a Liberal fund-raising dinner at The Place in Pembroke, Ontario on February 5.
The 30 pro-life picketers were joined by 50 doctors who set up their own picket line to protest a ban on extra billing.
With the arrival of the doctors, the pro-life picket took on an unexpected dimension. Just before the premier arrived, the pro-life protesters left their position near the entrance and walked among the doctors. Shirley Witt, spokesman of the pro-life group, said that “Maybe we should be delivering our message to these people [the doctors] as well.”
Mrs. Witt told the press in Pembroke that she believes the liberal government is not closing the illegal abortuary in Toronto because of a hidden agenda in its liaison with the NDP party.
“It’s well known that the NDP, as a party, supports abortion on demand and we believe they are using their agreement to get the government to soft peddle this issue,” she said.
The pro-life protesters were somewhat overshadowed by the doctors’ protest. However, one of the ladies going to the dinner called out to the picketers “I believe in a woman having a choice.” To this, Sister Lucille Durocher of Human Life International (who came especially for the picket) asked the woman aloud, “Does a woman have a choice to kill?”
Margaret Theuman of Renfrew County Right to Life spoke to Premier Peterson as he entered the main door, saying “You broke your promise to us, the one you made before the election. You promised to close the Morgentaler Clinic.”
Father Paul Marx, head of Human Life International, also joined the picketers in Pembroke and this was made widely known in the area by local radio broadcasts. The pro-lifers got no television coverage but at least equal time on radio broadcasts, according to spokesman Shirley Witt.
CS