Canada – Graphic roadside anti-abortion signs could be target of stricter sign bylaw

Daryl Newcombe, CTV News London Reporter
 July 29, 2022

London may soon consider broadening its prohibition of graphic anti-abortion images to include their public display on signs, banners and billboards.

Deanna Ronson, a local member of the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada (ARCC), wants city council to prohibit people from displaying images of aborted fetuses along roadways and in other public settings.

Continued: https://london.ctvnews.ca/graphic-roadside-anti-abortion-signs-could-be-target-of-stricter-sign-bylaw-1.6008250


Canada – Politicians back banning graphic flyers despite possible legal challenge by anti-abortion group

Daryl Newcombe, CTV News London Reporter
Published March 2, 2022

City hall moved one step closer to banning the door to door delivery of graphic flyers, including those showing aborted fetuses.

On Tuesday, the Community and Protective Services Committee unanimously voted to recommend council approve a draft by-law forbidding door to door distribution of any graphic images in London.

Continued: https://london.ctvnews.ca/politicians-back-banning-graphic-flyers-despite-possible-legal-challenge-by-anti-abortion-group-1.5802036


Canada – Proposed by-law banning graphic anti-abortion flyers would likely face legal challenge

Published Feb. 23, 2022
London CTV News

City council will soon consider two draft by-laws aimed at stopping the unsolicited distribution of graphic anti-abortion flyers in London, but the pro-life organization behind the campaign is already threatening a legal fight.

Flyers containing images of dead fetuses sparked outrage after they were dropped into many Londoners’ mailboxes in 2020.

Continued: https://london.ctvnews.ca/proposed-by-law-banning-graphic-anti-abortion-flyers-would-likely-face-legal-challenge-1.5793639


Canada – Anti-abortion imagery on campus is an accessibility issue

Paid staff of anti-abortion groups are displaying graphic fetal images on campus

By Al Draghici, The Varsity
January 23, 2022

Maybe you’ve seen it — groups of people with huge, graphic signs standing on all four corners of an intersection, asking innocuous questions to passersby as though they are holding nothing more than an infographic. In reality, they are holding macabre, bloody pictures of non-viable fetuses as they block the sidewalk, making the images unavoidable as they feign innocence, saying, “How do you feel about abortion?”

When I lived in London, Ontario, I decided to join the Viewer Discretion Legislation Coalition (VDLC) after I found a graphic anti-abortion flyer with visible gruesome images on my living room floor. The distributors of these pamphlets had shoved it through my mail slot, into my house. This graphic, unsolicited pamphlet was pushed into my home and forced upon me.

Continued: https://thevarsity.ca/2022/01/23/op-ed-anti-abortion-protests-on-campus/


Canada – Draft bylaw to stop graphic anti-abortion fliers may get more focus and sharper teeth

Daryl Newcombe, CTV News London Reporter
Published Nov. 3, 2021

LONDON, ONT. - London may soon be the latest city to block the delivery of graphic anti-abortion flyers delivered to mailboxes, but the broad-based approach could restrict virtually all unaddressed mail delivered to participating households.

In November 2020, city council directed staff to prepare a draft bylaw after receiving numerous complaints that viewing the unsolicited flyers traumatized children and couples who have experienced pregnancy loss.

Continued: https://london.ctvnews.ca/draft-bylaw-to-stop-graphic-anti-abortion-fliers-may-get-more-focus-and-sharper-teeth-1.5650697


Graphic Anti-Abortion Material is Hate Speech

Graphic and gory images sent to mailboxes and waved in public have long been a tool of anti-abortion campaigns. Does it count as hate propaganda against people who need abortions? Let’s test it against the Supreme Court-endorsed “Hallmarks of Hate.”

Posted on July 23, 2021
By Hazel Woodrow

Across social media platforms, communities warn each other about the presence of graphic anti-abortion propaganda in their neighbourhoods. These conversations often question the legality of stuffing gory pamphlets into strangers’ mailboxes en masse, or of displaying such imagery on banners and placards in busy metropolitan areas.

Search the subreddit for nearly any city across Canada and you’ll find frequent warnings. A Halifax local remarked on the “Extremely graphic anti-abortion flyer in my mailbox.” In Saskatoon, an “Anti-abortion flyers warning” hit the forum. As one Ottawa shares, “I really don't want to see pictures of dead and dismembered babies every day on bank street.”

Continued: https://www.antihate.ca/opinion_graphic_anti_abortion_material_hate_speech


Ontario private member’s bill introduced to control delivery of anti-abortion flyers

Activists say women who suffered pregnancy losses and children are unfairly affected

Colin Butler · CBC News
Posted: Mar 08, 2021

A London, Ont. New Democrat MPP introduced a private member's bill at Queen's Park Monday that would ban the practice of freely distributing images of fetal remains, which many critics argue are too graphic to be left on the doorsteps of family homes.

Terrance Kernaghan, representing London North Centre, introduced the "Viewer Discretion Act" that would require any type of graphic image delivered to the doorstep of a family home to be enclosed in a sealed envelope with the sender's name clearly written on the front.

Continued: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/abortion-flyers-private-members-bill-ontario-1.5941036


Canada – Why Are We Still Talking About Abortion?

Abortion is one of the most polarizing topics at play around the world.

By Melissa Parker
December 23, 2020

Politicians, lawmakers, scientists, the healthcare industry and women in particular, and humanity as a whole, have a stake in the legalities surrounding abortion and the right to choose them.  Here in Canada, abortion is legal, safe and covered through our health care infrastructure – though, difficult to find in some rural communities.  Current legislation allows Canadian women have the right to access abortion procedures up to 24 weeks of pregnancy with medical emergency abortions available after that window.  These late-term abortions, while legal, are rare and based on necessity but may require travel to another province or the USA.

In Canadian politics, Erin O’Toole, the new Conservative leader, has publicly
announced that he would not allow his party to open the discussion on abortion
law in our country.  This is a far cry
from the previous leader, Andrew Scheer who slyly skirted the conversation
indicating that “he” wouldn’t reopen the discussion but his MPPs were free
to.  Under Scheer, more than 40
conservative leaders across the country openly shared their agendas to make
abortion illegal again, including MPP Sam Oosterhoff – it will be interesting
to see how open they will be under new leadership and too early to say when the
topic will arise again.

Continued: https://londonfuse.ca/opinion-why-are-we-still-talking-about-abortion/


Canada – Officials mum on how much Bank of China, anti-abortion groups got in wage subsidy

By Amanda Connolly , Global News
Posted December 22, 2020

The federal government isn’t saying how much money several Chinese state-owned enterprises and anti-abortion groups got through the wage subsidy.

The Canada Revenue Agency on Monday released a searchable registry of the 339,938 businesses, charities and non-profits that have applied for and received the wage subsidy so far.

Continued: https://globalnews.ca/news/7537512/bank-of-china-wage-subsidy-amount/


Canada – Politicians, activists trying to stop display and distribution of graphic anti-abortion images

One petition is going to city politicians, another will be presented in the provincial legislature

Kate Dubinski · CBC News
Posted: Oct 26, 2020

A battle in London against graphic abortion images displayed and distributed by a Calgary-based group is being fought on several fronts, including counter-protests and petitions to municipal and provincial politicians.

NDP MPP Terence Kernaghan has one petition on his website, calling for a provincial injunction against the Canadian Centre for Bioethical Reform (CCBR) and its flyers which show aborted fetuses.

Continued: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/politicians-activists-trying-to-stop-display-and-distribution-of-graphic-anti-abortion-images-1.5776582