B.C. law bans prayer, handing out roses
On June 25, two British Columbia pro-lifers who were witnessing peacefully outside a Vancouver abortuary were arrested.
Mary Wagner and Glenn Reed were arrested outside Everywoman’s abortion mill where they were praying and holding roses that they give to incoming abortion clients.
Campaign Life Coalition B.C. President John Hof told The Interim that although Wagner has been arrested many times before for her witness to the evil of abortion, this was Reed’s first arrest. Wagner was charged with breaching the bubble zone law, which prohibits pro-life activity outside abortion centres in B.C., and breaching the conditions of her 18-month probation stemming from a conviction on similar charges earlier this year. Reed was charged with breaching the bubble zone.
On July 19, both went to court. Reed was given two years probation. Wagner was given a jail sentence of three months and a day in addition to the 24 days she had already served. She was then handcuffed and transported back to maximum security at the B.C. Correctional Centre for Women.
Hof said that Reed has been a sidewalk counselor for two years but has until now remained outside the bubble zone, but joined Wagner in her silent, prayerful witness against abortion closer to the abortuary doors. Wagner explained to The Interim earlier this year that she distributes roses to potential abortuary clients because it is a gentle and loving outreach to women who desperately need help and whom she has only seconds to connect with.
It is difficult to counsel women in B.C. because in 1995 legislation entitled the Access to Abortion Services Act was enacted that allowed the creation of bubble zones nearabortuaries, hospitals that commit abortions and abortionists’ homes. The Act makes “advising or persuading, or attempting to advise or persuade” women “from making use of abortion services” or “informing or attempting to inform a person concerning issues related to abortion services by any means, including, without limitation, graphic, verbal or written means.”
Kelowna, B.C.-based Interim columnist Ted Gerk said no other group in the western world has had their right to freedom speech curtailed as much as pro-lifers.
And while some pro-lifers may have been hopeful that the change in government earlier this year when the Liberals replaced the rabidly pro-abortion NDP would result in a re-examination of the bubble zone law, Gerk said in an interview with The Interim that it is unlikely Premier Gordon Campbell will want to touch the abortion issue in any way.
“I doubt that there will be any new bubble zones or that any of the existing bubble zones would be reconsidered,” he said. “Campbell sees abortion as just too divisive.”
Hof said that while many pro-lifers are beginning to question the good that is done by activists who are arrested for peaceful demonstrations, he said it is important that someone goes on record opposing the killing of so many innocent unborn babies. “It is not just symbolic,” he explained. “The trial is part of a public record that makes very clear there was opposition to abortion.” He also said it is likely that the witness is touching the hearts of women facing crisis pregnancies, suffering from post-abortion syndrome and passers-by.
According to Hof, another benefit of the repeated arrest of Wagner is the “incredible ministry she provides in jail.” He said she has comforted those afflicted by their past abortions and others by her compassion and strong faith.
