Berton, Callwood, Hall, Forrester, Christie and Morgentaler honour founders of abortion group
Pro-lifers put a crimp in plans to honour long-time abortion supporters Norma Scarborough, founder of the Canadian Abortion Rights Action League (CARAL) and Toronto Star columnist Michelle Landsberg.
Guests attending a January 29 dinner for Scarborough and Landsberg ran headlong into an orderly line of demonstrators, who braved cold temperatures and biting winds to make a pro-life presence. The date marked the eighth anniversary of the Supreme Court decision striking down Canada’s abortion law.
Held at a downtown Toronto restaurant, the dinner was organized to salute Scarborough’s eight years as president of CARAL. Landsberg was honoured at the dinner for her many columns in support of the abortion cause.
Among the 600 guests at the dinner were Canada’s leading abortionist Henry Morgentaler, authors Pierre Berton and June Callwood, Toronto Mayor Barbara Hall, actor Dina Christie and concert performer Maureen Forrester.
Demonstrators passed out literature criticizing Landsberg for a recent column in which she expressed sympathy for the growing number of orphans in China, yet made no mention of the thousands of lives lost to abortion in that country.
Picketers noted that many of the guests arriving for the dinner seemed flustered by the pro-life witness. “These are people in the upper echelon of the pro-abortion movement,” one said. “They aren’t used to being picketed.”
CARAL was founded in 1984 to press for a wide open access to abortion. The group claims to have a membership of 30,000 throughout Canada.
