Paul Tuns:
Photo: Théovox Actualités/YouTube
Campagne Québec-Vie (CQV), the Quebec affiliate of Campaign Life Coalition, is challenging the province’s anti-free speech bubble law that prohibits pro-life activity within 50 metres of any facility which commits abortions.
The plaintiffs — Dr. Roseline Lebel Caron, Brian Jenkins, and Campagne Québec-Vie — are challenging Article 16.1 of Quebec’s Health and Social Services Law, which was enacted in 2016. Pro-life critics of the law say it is aimed at preventing individuals from attempting to dissuade women seeking abortions or engaging with abortion mill workers. Specifically, it states that no person may “attempt to dissuade a person from providing, or from participating in the provision of” abortion.
The trial was heard in the Quebec Superior Court last month before Justice Lysane Cree
“Our goal is clear, said CQV president Georges Buscemi, “to eliminate the 50-meter bubble zone surrounding abortion facilities across Quebec, zones that prevent us from providing support to pregnant women in need outside these centers.”
CQV argues that the Health and Social Services Law infringes upon the fundamental rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, guaranteed by both the Canadian and Quebec Charters of Rights and Freedoms. In their arguments, the plaintiffs emphasize that the bubble zone law goes beyond safeguarding public order and hinders legitimate public discourse on a contentious issue.
The plaintiffs argue that there is no evidence proving that peaceful sidewalk counsellors endanger women’s safety, health, or well-being. “Public spaces, particularly sidewalks, are essential venues for public expression, even if the messages shared may be uncomfortable or unpopular,” the plaintiffs argue. They maintain that their peaceful demonstrations or sidewalk counseling offering alternatives to abortion, including the display of signs bearing messages such as “Pregnant & Worried? We can help you” and “Pray for an end to abortion,” do not obstruct access to clinics and are not disruptive.
Robert E. Reynolds, the lawyer representing the plaintiffs, said they “have without a doubt the right to peacefully exercise their right to freedom of expression … and more specifically on sidewalks in front of buildings where abortions are provided,” he said.
CQV is urging the Quebec Superior Court to declare the buffer zone law unconstitutional and inoperative, claiming it fails to meet the standards of the Oakes test, a legal benchmark used to assess the justification of limiting Charter rights.
Lawyer Éric Cantin, representing the Quebec government, said the bubble zone is justified. “We’re not forbidding all protests,” he said, because they are permitted outside the 50-metre perimeter around abortion mills.
Joséane Chrétien, a lawyer representing three abortion mills, claimed that protesters subject women to aggressive and violent behaviour. She said Jenkins, specifically, “has imposed himself on patients and the people who accompany them.”
Justice Cree has reserved her decision.
