When the police paddy wagon pulled up to Robert Scott’s abortuary in downtown Toronto one October day recently, Mary Burnie and Jan Copps wondered what was going on.
A surly police officer stepped out, approached them as they picketed and said, “You’re trespassing on private property.”
Now Mary understood.
Earlier she had rested against the fence that separates Scott’s property from the public property of the sidewalk. Probably Maria, wife of the abortionist, had peeked out from between the slats of the venetian blinds and, recognized an ideal opportunity, called police, to whom she seems to have a hot line.
They arrived promptly. After issuing the two senior citizens a warning, the officer started back to the paddy wagon but not before Jan told him that earlier Mother Scott had called the two women “two old turds.”
“Call me what you want,” she said, “But don’t call me old.”
The officer drove off grinning from ear to ear. Veteran witnesses have many such tales to tell about their experiences picketing abortion ‘facilities.’
The following pro-lifers (to whom I was able to speak, represent many others like them across the country.
These are the people who give time regularly to pray, counsel and picket against abortion by personally being there in front of an abortuary.
In Toronto, Robert Scott and Monole Buruiana (who does late abortions), operate abortuaries.
A 1989 injunction prohibits picketing at Henry Morgentaler’s downtown ‘clinic.’
Picketers are gritty, self-confident individuals whose faith and deep convictions about the sanctity of life spur them to do this kind of difficult, thankless job.
Some days they save babies, but on most days they don’t. Their turf is the red light district of downtown Toronto, where they tolerate inclement weather, vile language, insults and personal discomfort, yet still manage to poke fun at adversity. (Many are veterans of Morgentaler’s and are involved in other pro-life work as well0.
They are the Shepherds of The Way Inn.
Jan Copps
Perky Jan Copps says that never a day goes by on the picket line that someone doesn’t express surprise to learn that the building behind her is an abortuary. Earlier two police officers on foot patrol came by and were unaware of the business of the unmarked building.
She witnesses twice a week for two hours so that her three children, all adopted, will appreciate that their mother gave them life – “something I couldn’t do,” she says.
When teenagers enter the abortuary she says it is heartbreaking to think they can’t go home and tell their problems to their parents, but have to resort to the tragic ‘solution’ of abortion.
Mike Lynch
When Irish-born Mike Lynch, a retired bachelor, used to work in housekeeping at the Toronto General Hospital, its staff abortionists would occasionally find pro-life pamphlets shoved under their office doors. Eventually, Mike was transferred but he continued to protest abortions in his hospital by picketing outside on Sundays for several years.
Then when Morgentaler’s opened in 1984, he’d picket there after work.
In 1987, after he retired, he’d go there every morning for two hours with Leo Beecher, now is a nursing home after suffering a stroke. Mike has continued that pattern at the two other abortuaries because he thinks abortion is the worst evil of our time and a second holocaust. “The devil will get his way if we don’t pray, and tell people what’s going on at all the abortuaries,” he says.
Hetty Boot
A veteran of Morgentaler’s where she picketed for six years. Hetty now pickets Scott’s twice a week.
Quoting the Bible, she says that as Christians we are called to speak out against abortion, because it is evil in God’s view. She prays that if some women who enter the abortuary are Christians, God will change their minds.
“We can’t judge those who have abortions,” she says, “but we can offer them help.”
Practical Hetty did just that at Morgentaler’s two years ago when she helped a couple decide against abortion. She still keeps in touch with them and their beautiful son, Neil.
Bernardine Van Binnendyk
Bernardine van Binnendyk, a mother of three children, now grown, is from South Africa. She came here in 1954.
As a child she remembers seeing black ‘sash’ women (so called because they wore black sashes), silently standing before the Parliament buildings to protest apartheid. She was impressed by their care and courage in taking a public stand against what they knew was wrong, even though they were a thorn in the side of the authorities.
Today, when she pickets against abortion, she feels a link to these women. As we speak, a young woman talks outside the abortuary. She says she brought her 17-year-old girlfriend to the abortuary, but tried to talk her out of an abortion because she herself has a child.
Gently, Bernardine tells her, “We’re not here to condemn women but to offer help,” and the young woman nods knowingly.
“It’s important to stress our help because a woman approaching the abortuary might slip past us if we rush her and frighten her,” Bernardine states.
She carries her own special sign, Adoption is a Loving Solution, to acknowledge and encourage mothers who carry their babies to term and give them up for adoption.
“It’s not easy,” she says, grateful for her own three adopted children.
George Eygenraam
George Eygenraam sold his greenhouse business a year ago and took early retirement at 62 because of feet problems. He now drives 90 miles (each way) from Fort Erie to Toronto, to picket weekly for three hours. He’s a father of six and grandfather of seven. He was appalled when he first heard about abortion in the 1970s at his Fruitland Christian Reformed Church.
George prays before picketing because he never knows what to expect even though in the one year he has picketed, the only violence he’s seen has come from pro-abortionists (contrary to media reports).
One day, while walking with a sign, he was hit from behind by a young man shouting, “What do you know about women and abortion?” After the young man ranted for five minutes, George quietly gave him the scientific facts about fetal development. He left saying, “Nice talking to you, George.”
Stella Corbett
Stella Corbett is a 73 year-old grandmother and retired lab technician. She returned t the picket line two weeks after her husband died. That first day back, an irate male passerby grabbed her sign and swung it over her head. “I was nervous at first, but then I was fine,” she recalls.
She also tells about a woman dressed in silks and satins who entered Buruiana’s abortuary a few weeks ago. She refused Stella’s offer of help, saying that she had two children and didn’t want another.
But last May, Stella and fellow picketer Bill Mullins helped to persuade the sister of a woman in the abortuary to go in and bring her out. They brought her to The Way Inn and she later decided against an abortion. With a smile, Stella says, “That was a good day.”
Bill Mullins
Bill Mullins is a retired postal worker with four grown children (one son is in the seminary). “All turned out OK, so I’m thankful,” he says.
Bill pickets once a week for two hours because it’s an opportunity to educate people on the street and to stand up publicly against abortion.
“If I’m asked on Judgment Day where I was when they were killing babies, at least I can say I tried to save some by picketing a few hours a week,” he says.
Judy Johnson
Judy Johnson’s earliest recollection of the abortion issue was hearing her father, then head of the Montreal Police homicide division, talk about loathsome doctors who did clandestine abortions. They topped his list of criminals, even ahead of drug pushers who caused untold misery to women and children.
Judy has always been interested in issues that affect the family, and as the mother of a son and four growing daughters, she became concerned about abortion and joined the pro-life movement a decade ago to become better informed and to strengthen her family against it. A veteran of Morgentaler’s part of her pro-life activism is to witness and to picket.
She says, “I dislike the monotony and being out in all kinds of weather, but I do it because it keeps the issue alive for me when I get caught up in other busy pro-life work.”
Undaunted by the taunts of the street, she laughs and says if she were given a dollar for every time she’s been told to mind my own business or to get a job she’d be rich. “Besides, Our Lord asked, ‘Can you not wait and watch with me for an hour?’ I see picketing as part of the spiritual carrying of the Cross.”
Anne Dobson
Last summer, Anne Dobson waved to Maria, wife of abortionist Scott when she popped out the front door of the abortuary to position, tenderly, a potted plant on the tiny porch. Anne sang out, “Maria, Maria.” Displeased, Maria glared at her and scowled, “Why do you always call my name? I don’t want to talk to you.” Seconds before the door banged shut, Anne called back, “But Maria, I only wanted to know what kind of plant that was.”
Anne tries to reach Maria with light-hearted banter because she says, “I find her pathetic. With so much contempt for pro-lifers, she has to be hurting inside and I feel sorry for her. I always tell her, “Change your ways, Maria. God loves you.”
But Maria is a challenge Another day when Anne was picketing, Maria greeted a woman at the door. One hand she placed on her shoulder; with the other she gave Anne the “finger” sign.
Nonetheless, Anne, who has a flair for seeing the comical side of witnessing, sees no point in becoming angry. Apparently her approach works. Last Christmas a baby was born, whose mother named her Kayla Anne.
Father Bill Comerford
Father Bill Comerford lives in North Toronto and is the Roman Catholic Archbishop’s liaison to the Charismatic renewal in the Archdiocese. He also preaches parish retreats and does parish missions.
Every Friday, he pickets as part of his prayer and fast day.
“I’m not called to work in African missions but where I live. In Toronto, we have four abortuaries, and as a priest I believe I have to do what Jesus told us. ‘Be a light in the darkness and a gentle presence wherever there is evil.’
“Here abortion is the evil.”
Father Bill wears his collar to be seen as a priest and comes to counsel more than to picket, although he carries his own hand-made sign. He dislikes the heat and cold, hearing the insults and vile language on the street and the prejudices against priests.
This day, Father barely begins his Rosary when his heckler arrives. A white haired heavy- set man who stands near Father, shouts “Shane on all Roman Catholic priests and other pedophiles. Look at Mount Cashel. Shame on them all.” As Father walks by, he lowers his head and explains, “He comes often on Friday when I’m here.”
Joanne Dieleman
Hetty Boot introduced Joanne, a neighbour to the pro-life cause at their Christian Reformed Church two decades ago.
Joanne Dieleman beams when she confides that she’s just found the perfect new home for The Way Inn, whose lease is about to expire. But she says her real job here is to keep the place going. Since the pro-life coffee house opened in 1985, next door to Morgentaler’s abortuary, her responsibilities have grown.
Although Joanne loves to witness on the street, most of her time now consists of “counseling street counselors” and helping Dick Cochrane, Director of Aid to Women crisis pregnancy center adjacent to The Way Inn.
A Dutch-born midwife, Joanne and her husband Adrien have eight children (two adopted and both handicapped). They have been foster parents to 249 children over the past twenty years.
Of Joanne’s organizational and work skills, Judy Johnson says if she asks you to do something, “It’s impossible to refuse because she does so much more.”
Barbara Brown says she’s firm, practical but uncompromising even with the most difficult women. Her favorite answer to women who seem determined to abort is “Well, you’re going to have a baby anyway, alive or dead. Now which do you want?”
Barbara Brown
When Barbara Brown went to jail for 16 days following an August 1989 Operation Rescue, her world turned upside down. Thrown in with prostitutes, drug addicts and lesbians, she learned about their vulnerability and how easily they fall prey to abortions, as many had.
After her days in jail, Barbara stopped picketing for a while, but found that abortion had become a ‘head’ issue. So now she’s back, even though she usually goes home “feeling sick” to my stomach over these women who enter the abortuary.
Barbara and her husband Ton, were two of Morgentaler’s first picketers after he opened in 1984. They expected the place to be closed in a few weeks. Six years later, she’s still picketing and trying to save babies.
“When you’re pro-life you’re in it for life.
In the half-hour she’s been at Scott’s two couples and two women have gone inside. A pretty co-ed accompanied by her boyfriend, wearing University of Waterloo track pants, refused her offer of help.
“Probably they skipped classes to come here and get rid of their baby. What a tragedy,” she muses.
Barbara says one doesn’t often see results from picketing and veteran picketers know they won’t stop most women, but when they do, “we’re thankful that God is calling us to do so.”
Then with a cherry smile, she recalls, “One couple told my husband that they prayed all the way down to the abortuary that someone would stop them – and he did.”
Tom Brown
Tom Brown, Barbara’s husband, picketed at Morgentaler’s one day a week for six years.
He was named in the million-dollar lawsuit Morgentaler launched against five pro-lifers in May 1989. It’s still on his mind and he’ll be glad when it goes to court next year, but now he’s back on the picket line a few hours a week.
Recently, Tom, Mary Burnie and Jan Copps, helped two young women, both named Michelle, to turn away from Buruiana’s.
The first Michelle, a student and part-time model, was with her boyfriend and said her parent’s didn’t know about her pregnancy. Tom gave them pro-life literature, talked to them and left his home phone number with them.
That weekend the boyfriend called to say they had told the girl’s parents, who were distressed at first but were now accepting and supportive.
The second Michelle, a beautiful 22-year-old Eurasian girl, had a job but no family in Canada. With support at The Way Inn, she decided to have her baby. Then, several weeks later the same pro-life trio helped another girl to turn away form the abortuary.
Dick Cochrane helped all three of these women at Aid to Women.
Says Tom, if no one had been at the abortuary at 9:00 a.m., to help, these women would have gone ahead with their abortions.
Mary Burnie
Mary Burnie, a retired biochemist, cannot be mentioned without including her two retired sisters, Rita and Helen (who helped run The Way Inn with Joanne at Morgentaler’s, and who were arrested for ‘trespassing’ and who went to court many times).
For health reasons, Rita and Helen don’t picket now, but Mary embodies their spirit on the picket line. She say, “I wouldn’t do this job for any other cause. There are many things I enjoy doing more, but this is important and the physical discomfort (sore feet) and bad weather are a small price to pay for saving a baby’s life.”
Mary thinks a lot of education is done on the streets too, because people often stop and chat, like a man who came by recently and said, “How come on TV they always show you people swearing and shouting?” Those are “the others” – not pro-lifers, she explains.
Outside Buruiana’s this day, an attractive teenaged couple no older than 18 approached the gate. Mary offers them help and the young man hesitates. But the girl, tears streaming down her face, motions him to follow. As they entered the abortuary, a pall of silence fell on the handful of picketers outside.
Some gather quietly to pray for them.
Says Mary, “Wouldn’t that have been a beautiful baby for some childless couple?” Then a few days later, the same couple returned to the abortuary and spoke to other picketers. This day the girl will abort because of the abortifacient implant inserted on her first visit. She told them that her mother told her to get an abortion, “or else.”
By the end of this day, Mary smiles and says brightly, “Well, we had a good day today. Lots of people swore at us but we just said, ‘God bless you. We love you, too.”
Brush with abortionist
When Mary Burnie and Jan Copps were at Buruiana’s one day later, the abortionist himself drove up in his yellow sports car, parked it and paused to talk with them – until Mary asked him why he used his medical training to harm women and kill their babies.
“Look, I don’t ask those girls to come here. They come on their own. Besides, people have to make a living,” he retorted.
Then he went inside to “make a living” and Mary and Jan went onto the street to tell people how he makes a living.
But solace touched their souls, knowing that around Christmas time more pro-life witnesses, and the women they help turn away from his abortuary would find a welcome place nearby.
That very day Joanne had found a new home for The Way Inn – next door to Buruiana’s.
