Four pro-life delegates were elected to the Lions Gate Hospital’s board of directors last June. The delegates defeated pro-choice incumbent board nominees.
The new pro-life directors, from the Vancouver area, each won by a slim margin. One delegate won by 17 votes.
The new members are Col. H.F.G. Boswell, Philip Mansfield, Colleen Donald, and Victor Bennington. They join 12 other members who support the hospital’s present abortion policies.
Newly elected director, Colleen Donald, said that the community is expressing their dissatisfaction with the pro-choice position. “The community has demonstrated they want a responsible position taken.”
But board chairman Hilary Clark was disappointed with the results of the election. “My concern is from the experience that when pro-life was on the board, they used to put forward their anti-abortion, anti-choice points of view. This could make the board unproductive,” she said.
Of the 3,443 hospital board members eligible to vote, 1,881 cast their ballots.
Hospital president John Borthwick said the voting clearly indicated it was on the abortion issue. “The four are still a minority though but I’m sure they will do what they can,” he said.
In 1982, former board members George Carruthers and Michael Whelton started a lawsuit against the hospital to try to restrict the number of abortions performed there. The case is still waiting for a court date to be set later this year.
