It was a long, hard fight, but for the pro-lifers of Ste. Thérèse, it was worth the effort. It started in the early months of 1985, when the Local Community Service Centre in Ste. Thérèse decided to offer abortion as one of its services, as many other LCSCs are doing in Quebec, with the support of the Quebec Department of social Affairs, under whose jurisdiction they have been established.
Local pro-lifers organized a campaign against the clinic. Protests and petitions were held. Pro-lifers showed up and demanded to be heard at meetings of the LCSC Board. In May, four pro-life candidates were elected, with huge majorities, to fill vacancies on the Board. The four, members of Groulx County Coalition for Life, had made it quite plain to the electors that their ‘first mission’ would be to try to close down the abortion facility, and the electors clearly showed their support for that mission. Finally, at a meeting held on October 22, a resolution was passed to discontinue the abortion service.
One of the documents that helped to bring about that result was a copy of the findings of Judge Meen in the Morgentaler Clinic trespassing case in Toronto, which had been supplied by Campaign, Toronto, on request.
