New Rescue
Edmonton – On May 24, six pro-life rescuers succeeded in shutting down the Family Planning “Clinic” of the Royal Alexandria Hospital here for most of the day. The Clinic is a separate unit of the hospital, rescue spokeswoman, Maria Voss told The Interim, and its only business is abortions. From 8:30 a.m. on, rescuers blocked access by chaining themselves to the doorway.
Morgentaler H. Q. Closed!
Montreal – Operation Rescue (Op-R) truck at the Montreal HQ of the Morgentaler abortion empire on Friday, May 26. Some 130 rescuers took part in the Op-R of whom just over 60 blocked the entrances to the bungalow-abortuary in its quiet residential neighbourhood with their bodies. The move came as complete surprise to the Montreal Police.
For the first time in many years Quebeckers have cast off their passive and accommodating attitude towards abortion. When Premier René Lévesque came to power in November 1976, he halted the previous government’s legal action against Morgentaler. A few months later he opened provincially-funded abortuaries of his own.
Op-R Montreal follows on the heels of a small but effective Op-R of six people in Edmonton which closed a hospital abortuary for a full day. Previous rescue missions, all non-violent, have been carried out in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary and Winnipeg.
Montreal police began to arrest rescuers around eleven o’clock. The blockade had begun at 8:00 a.m. Some 25 police vehicles of all shapes and sizes filled the surrounding street with the Montreal media fully represented. The front door was cleared just after the noon hour, the side door by one o’clock. 62 Rescuers were arrested and released during the remainder of the day and evening.
The Montreal organizers had asked for support from Toronto, which sent a busload of 40. Some of these were supporters; others were participants.
Second Priest Arrested
Toronto – Father Bill Comerford, 53, a member of the Roman Catholic congregation known as the “Redemptorists,” was the second priest to be arrested at the Toronto Morgentaler abortuary. Father Alphonse de Valk, 57, of the religious congregation of St. Basil known as the Basilians, has picketed the same place three weeks in a row. He was almost arrested at his first appearance and has been arrested twice since.
Both priests have been released each time after first being taken to the police station. No charges have been laid against them. They were arrested for “breach of the peace” in view of an injunction granted by Judge M. A. Craig on May 5. A “breach of the peace” is an offence, not a charge.
Father Comerford was arrested on Friday morning, May 26, after remaining at the corner of Rogers Street and the back alley, which leads to 85 Harbord Street for twenty minutes with the intent of counseling any woman on her way to the abortuary. No woman appeared before he was taken away.
Both priests, and others who support them, are convinced that they must witness to God’s law, against the false claim of feminists that women have the right to kill their unborn babies. They also see the legal injunction as a further step by abortionists to silence opposition to their ever growing abortion imperialism. Both are convinced that unless Canadian Christians make real sacrifices in defense of God’s truth, Christianity in Canada is in danger of becoming irrelevant to daily life.
