It could have been just another dogged attempt by two rookie sidewalk counselors to persuade women not to go for abortions at Edmonton’s Royal Alexandra Hospital.

But on February 2, Sheila Dollard, a mother of three and Lianne Laurence were arrested for “assault by trespass” by hospital security guards.

Twenty hours later they were released from the Edmonton Remand Centre on $500 bail each and under the condition they not return to the Royal Alex until their trial, set for May 2, 1990.

“Sidewalk counseling at the Alex has its own peculiar problems, because we need to talk to the girls and so we often walk with them right up to the door of admitting.” Commented Laurence, member of Direct Action for Life. “We’re on hospital property, and they don’t seem to like that.”

The pair were in front of the hospital at 5:30 in the morning, as women scheduled for abortions are requested to be admitted by six a.m. It was the third time sidewalk counseling had been attempted.

“The way that the abortion process is set up in Edmonton, it’s the only time we have access to talk to the girls,” Mrs. Dollard told The Interim.

“We manage to talk to between two to four women each time we go out,” noted Miss Laurence, adding, “Many of the women drive right into admitting in cabs, but there are those we can approach. It doesn’t seem like much, but of course it’s essential to try and save a life if we can.” On February 2, the pair had already talked to four women when three security guards requested that they leave. The pro-lifers refused and were held by security until the police arrived.

“I was totally abused by the security guards,” observed Mrs. Dollard, “I feel they used excessive force in arresting me.”

At one point, when the two attempted to leave, Mrs. Dollard was pushed up against a cement wall and her arms handcuffed behind her back.

Once in jail, the pro-lifers were informed they would be released on their own recognizance if they would ensure they would not return to the Royal Alexandra Hospital until their trial.

“In conscience, we couldn’t promise not to go back because our reason for being there in the first place hadn’t changed. There are still babies being killed daily at the Alex,” Miss Laurence said.

Since the pair would not promise to stay away from the hospital, a Justice of the Peace imposed a $500 bail bond on each of them with the condition still intact that they stay away from the Alex until the matter came to court.

Even though the pro-lifers insisted they were refusing bail, they were hauled from their bunks at about midnight, brought before a J.P. and summarily dismissed from the Remand Centre. The conditions they found so abhorrent were thus imposed upon them willy-nilly.

“I found from a personal standpoint the bail bond hard to take,” Mrs. Dollard said, adding, “The system shafted us…They want to play hard ball, but when we’re playing right along with them, they change the rules of the game.”

But, she added, in such a situation “you’re caught between a rock and a hard place.” If the two return to the Alex to sidewalk counsel, they will forfeit the money “and end up paying to a corrupt system. If we don’t go back, we’re knuckling under to a corrupt system,” Mrs. Dollard said.

Roseanna Saccomani, lawyer for the pro-lifers, will be applying to change the bail conditions at the end of February.

Unsung hero

Throughout the whole ordeal, the ‘quiet hero,’ according to family friend Maria Voss of Edmonton, was Sheila Dollard’s husband Howard, who dropped the three Dollard children off at her house on his way to work after hearing of his wife’s arrest.

When finished his daily labors, he set about raising money to get Sheila and Lianne out of jail which “he thought was the best thing,” Mrs. Voss told The Interim.

Howard fully supports his wife’s activities and was in fact the inspiration behind her founding Direct Action for Life. Howard picketed the Royal Alexandra Hospital every Sunday for a year, more often that not alone and in freezing temperatures.

When Sheila was arrested, his attitude was one of patience and ‘as God wills,’ commented Mrs. Voss.

Howard can truly be numbered among the countless unsung pro-life heroes whose dedication and steadfastness under trial is exemplary, and so necessary and vital in this, the fight for life.