On Monday, November 19, Dorval City Council approved a zoning bylaw that would banish massage parlours, strip joints, erotica shops, tanning studios and abortion clinics to an industrial part of town. The businesses would be relegated to a district now used mostly by trucking firms.
The draft bylaw “depicts the moral pasture of the community,” said Dorval Mayor, Peter Yeomans.
The apparent linking of abortion and pornography is “completely crazy” said Canada’s abortionist, Henry Morgentaler.
Women’s organizations were reported as saying that it puts women who seek abortions on the same footing as prostitutes.
“Abortion … has nothing to do with viciousness, pornography or violence,” suggested Fernande Menard of the Federation du Quebec pour le Planning des Naissances.
Veronique O’Leary of the Women’s Health Centre said that the bylaw was “absurd.”
Una Hopkins, president of Montreal Pro-Life, said that the move by the City of Dorval was “a step in the right direction because of the proliferation of abortion clinics.”
Mayor Yeomans is reported to have consulted with “opinion leaders” in the community in planning the bylaw.
The provincial Cities and Towns Act prohibits Dorval from banning these businesses outright.
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