Stabbing incident provides pro-abortion
groups with ideal propaganda tool

By Paul Tuns
The Interim

The July 11 stabbing of Vancouver abortionist Garson Romalis was denounced by pro-life groups across the country, but that hasn’t stopped the abortion industry from milking the incident for all its propaganda value.

In a July 12 press release, Canadian Physicians for Life president Dr. Robert Pankratz condemned the attack, saying, “The pro-life cause is only harmed by this kind of violence …. Any act of violence strikes at the very heart of what it means to be pro-life. I hope the person who attacked Dr. Gary Romalis in Vancouver, for whatever motive, is quickly captured, brought to trial and dealt swift justice.”

Campaign Life Coalition national president Jim Hughes also condemned the attack and offered a $10,000 reward, “for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons who stabbed Vancouver abortionist Garson Romalis.”

CLC challenged “the Canadian Abortion Rights Action League (CARAL), Planned Parenthood, Joyce Arthur of ProCAN, Henry Morgentaler and Canada’s other abortion providers to each match this offer.” So far, they have failed to match the offer, claiming it is a disingenuous publicity stunt. Abortion supporters would not respond to repeated calls from The Interim to comment on this or any other issue.

Hughes also said anyone responsible for this attack “should immediately be brought to justice, incarcerated and receive proper medical treatment.”

CLC British Columbia president John Hof also condemned any and all violence in the abortion debate and reiterated that the pro-life movement does not condone violence because it is a violation of the pro-life ethic.

Hof told The Interim, “If I knew who did it, I’d turn them in.”

He said it makes no sense to think the pro-life movement is behind the attack. He said using violence is the worst possible strategy, because not only is it a violation of pro-life beliefs, it results in a huge backlash against the pro-life movement.

Indeed, the pro-abortion movement, aided by the sympathetic media, has done all it can to link the pro-life movement with the attack. As of noted, no other possibility including a revenge attack by someone personally affected by abortion, by pro-abortionists seeking to delegitimize pro-life views, or possibly someone not involved in the abortion debate at all, has been seriously examined. He said he hopes the police will consider these possibilities. He said he doesn’t think the police are taking the alleged link to the pro-life movement too seriously, because “they have never asked us about these crimes or implied we were involved.”

But many people are trying to link the attack to the peaceful pro-life movement. In a July 12 press release, CARAL linked the attack to groups such as CLC, Human Life International and even pro-life politicians such as Canadian Alliance leader Stockwell Day. Marilyn Wilson, executive director of CARAL, worried that the increased debate over moral issues begun during the Canadian Alliance leadership race was responsible for the attack. “We fear that the renewed abortion debate now in full swing in the Canadian media … has incited violence against abortion doctors once again.” she said.

In interviews with themedia, Wilson said Day’s views “indirectly sanctioned” the violence against Romalis. She said that while he will deny he supports the violence, “his rhetoric does incite other people who share his beliefs against abortion to violence.”

In a July 14 National Post column, Andrew Coyne said the logical conclusion of Wilson’s view that “the mere exposition of a contrary view on abortion is itself incitement to violence,” is the necessity to criminalize the holding of pro-life views.

Of course, he noted, Canada is already close to that. Many abortuaries are already ensconced in a bubble zone prohibiting pro-life expression. There are rumours in B.C. that the government is prepared to further tighten the bubble zone restrictions. They have also promised another $250,000 for security at B.C. abortuaries.

The B.C. government also called for the federal government to punish attacks on abortionists with stiffer sentences than attacks on ordinary citizens and federal NDP leader Alexa McDonough says abortionists should be included as a designated group under Canadian hate-crimes legislation.

Hof said pro-abortionists are “capitalizing on the moment and using it for strategic advance.”

He is not the only one to see that. As Robert Burns Glennie pointed out in the July 27 Ottawa Citizen, the effort to link the peaceful pro-life movement and the actions of a violent individual, who may or may not be motivated by abortion, and advocating further protection for abortionists, is motivated by the desire to control thoughts. Pro-abortionists do not want this to be an issue debated in the political arena, but an accepted, everyday “medical procedure.”