Just before 6:00 p.m on Sunday, January 27,1985, Jim Demers entered the reception area of Kootenay Lake District Hospital. He returned the smile of the receptionist and then casually proceeded down the hallway into the operating area of the hospital, located on the main floor. The operating rooms were not in use and the area was completely deserted.

 

After a brief search, and in an area reserved for dirty laundry, Jim Demers located a Gomco Explosion Proof Uterine Aspirator, a device used to suck unborn children out of their mother’s wombs during abortions. He wheeled the shopping-cart device out of the hospital by a back entrance and loaded it into his truck. Jim Demers then took the unit to his carpentry workshop in Nelson, and in the next few hours, re-manufactured the aspirator into a book trolley. Later that same evening, he loaded the unit back into his truck and took it back to the hospital, to the reception area.

 

The aspirator had not been missed by hospital staff. When Mr. Demers told a hospital supervisor that he was returning their property and requested that she call the police, she invited him to call himself as she was in the middle of something.

 

Mr. Demers’ action stopped abortions at the hospital for some time. Three weeks after the incident a Nelson newspaper reported that women were being referred to a hospital in Castlegar. The hospital administrator stated that he had ordered a new suction machine and delivery would be sometime within the next few weeks.

 

Police have charged Mr. Demers with theft, damage to public property and possession of stolen property. These are indictable offenses and carry the potential for a prison term of up to 14 years. A preliminary hearing in the case is set for May 1, 1985. If it is determined that the case should proceed to trial, Mr. Demers has indicated that he will select trial by judge and jury if the hearing establishes that a trial should be held.

 

A defense fund has been established to help Jim Demers pay the court costs, which are expected to be considerable.                                                             DE