Halifax, N.S. In late January, the struggle for life here heated up still more with the arrests of sidewalk counselors Sharon MacPherson and Karen Levy outside the recently-opened Morgentaler ‘clinic’.
After walking quietly all day with their placards, MacPherson and Levy called out (once) to a very young girl being hustled into the abortuary. Abortuary staff called police, who arrested the pair for disturbing the peace.
Shock
The women expressed shock that such a small gesture could make them the first picketers arrested in Atlantic Canada. They worry about the reaction of the congregation at vineyard Christian Fellowship Church in nearby Sackville, where their husbands are co-pastors. And both have young children – the Levy twins are only two years old.
Cynthia Haughton of Campaign Life Coalition/Nova Scotia says, “We have had a great deal of consultation with other parts of Canada, and we thought we were prepared. But the pro-abortion forces have been observing the pro-life tactics used in other parts of Canada, and developing strategies to counteract them. They must have a new handbook on ‘How to beat pro-lifers.’”
False accusations
One method seems to be to make false accusations. Winning seems to be less important than causing local pro-lifers much distress and expense, and wasting their time.
The Campaign Life Coalition (CLC) office itself has experiences some minor vandalism. Cynthia Haughn, who lives near the Morgentaler ‘clinic’, has had her car badly scratched.
The pregnancy crisis centre has been subjected to persistent, haranguing phone calls.
Everything around the Morgentaler ‘clinic’ is very theatrical, notes Mrs. Haughn. Clients, especially very young girls, are hurried onto the property in cars. Staff people unlock the gate in the high chain link fence with a great flourish, and unfurl a large tarpaulin to ‘protect’ the client from the pro-lifers and the messages on their placards.
There are other puzzles, too, she states. Henry Morgentaler claims that there is a great need among Maritime women for his services, yet he spends only one day a month at the ‘clinic’.
A local doctor frequently makes very brief visits, too brief to carry out an abortion, local pro-lifers think.
In view of Morgentaler’s claims, one would expect the abortuary to be constantly busy. Instead it opens only one or two days a week, at irregular hours, making it difficult for pro-life forces to rally a large group of protesters on such short notice.
Mrs. Haughn suspects this may be another strategy.
