The operators of the Morgentaler abortuary in Toronto have applied for an injunction prohibiting all pro-life activity outside their killing centre. They are also suing five pro-life activists for one million dollars.
The first judge to review the application, however, gave the abortionists much less than they wanted. At a hearing on Thursday, April 13, Supreme Court Justice Craig issued a temporary injunction which only prohibits complete blocking of access – such as takes place in a Rescue – from taking place.
Pro-lifers first learned of the injunction application on Tuesday, April 4, when abortionists held a press conference to announce their intentions. They retained as their legal counsel, Clayton Ruby, who is Toronto’s best known civil rights lawyer.
The abortionists are asking the court to issue an injunction which would prohibit future Operation Rescues, picketing and sidewalk counseling. At the initial court appearance on April 13, the court granted defence lawyer Angela Costigan an adjournment over the objections of Ruby. At the same time the court issued an interim injunction for the period of the adjournment, which covered only “impeding, interfering, blocking or obstructing” access to the abortuary. The parties will be back in court on May 2 and 3 at which time the court will decide whether a long-term injunction should be granted.
The seeking of the injunction is being hailed by pro-life leaders as a sign of victory. Since December 1984, Campaign Life Coalition and other pro-life groups have organized the picketing and sidewalk counseling which takes place outside the abortuary. For four years the abortionists have resisted resorting to an injunction for relief – presumably for fear of being seen as stomping on the civil rights of others. It appears that five Operation Rescues held at the abortuary in as many months has driven the abortionists to seek strong help from the courts.
In conjunction with their application for the injunction, the abortionists have launched an extensive media campaign intended to convince the public that picketers, sidewalk counselors and rescuers have been physically and verbally abusing women going in to have abortions as well as the abortuary staff. Consequently, they began their court action with a press conference featuring Clayton Ruby with many false allegations of misbehaviour by pro-life people. At the same time, they vehemently denied what was obvious to most people that the injunction would be an infringement of time-honoured civil liberties such as freedom of expression.
What abortionists made no mention of at their press conference was that they are also suing for one million dollars in damages. Those named in the suit are five Toronto activists: Denyse Wiche, Joe Bissonnette, Tom Brown, Dan McCash and Operation Rescue leader Anne Packer. The lawsuit, like the injunction, also names John Doe and Jane Doe. This allows the abortionists to add further defendants to the suit at a future time. Some reporters have commented on the fact that the pro-abortionists don’t seem to want to talk about it.
The five defendants see the amount claimed by the abortionists as a sign of their greed. It is also ironic. The abortuary operators have consistently claimed for years that the picketing, and sidewalk counseling of the pro-lifers has had no effect on their business. After almost every rescue they have also claimed that despite the pro-life efforts, it had been “business as usual” and all the women had kept their appointments. Now, the abortionists are claiming one million dollars in damages!
When the case resumes on May 2, the abortionists will be seeking an injunction, which applies to the “whole world.” That is, the prohibitions contained in the injunction would apply to everyone, whether or not they had ever been part of a pro-life demonstration at the abortuary. The range of activities prohibited would also be very wide. “Disturbing” the function of the abortuary, trespassing, and “watching and besetting” would all be proscribed. The latter category could conceivably make a prayer vigil for the unborn killed at the abortuary illegal!
The penalties for breaking any terms of the injunction would be severe. In British Columbia, rescuers who have defied the injunction at the abortuary there have been given sentences ranging from three to four months. However, those sentences have been suspended on the condition that the convicted pro-lifers not disobey the injunction again.
Clayton Ruby
In an effort to deflect criticism that they are trampling on civil liberties by seeking the injunction, the abortionists have retained Clayton Ruby – one of the country’s best-known civil rights lawyers – to argue their case. Ruby, despite his reputation as defender of civil liberties, is in fact a Morgentaler soul mate. He is an honorary director of CARAL, the Canadian Abortion Rights Action League. Ten years ago, he was one of the lawyers who defended “Body Politic”, the now defunct homosexual magazine for its infamous pro-pedophilia article entitled “Men loving boys loving men.” In November 1984, he denounced Ontario Attorney-General Roy McMurtry for appealing Morgentaler’s acquittal, and claimed that McMurtry had “taken the law into his own hands.”
Today, Ruby has joined Canada’s most prominent law-breaker Henry Morgentaler in demanding that picketing and counseling at the Toronto abortuary be suppressed. The application is not meant to deprive anyone of free speech, he told –the Toronto Globe & Mail on April 3, adding coyly: “We approach this lawsuit with the greatest respect for those holding views on this issue. The lawsuit is not about these views. It is about harassment. For reasons of zealousness these people have suspended the ordinary rule of civil behaviour Canadians live by.”
