Politics
Friday September 5, 2008
BC Court Ruling Means only Pro-Abortion Information is Allowed Inside Bubble Zones
TODAY'S HEADLINES
E-MAIL
PRINT
By Hilary White
VANCOUVER, September 5, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In December 1998 Gordon Watson and Don Spratt were arrested for having stood inside a "bubble zone" in front of Everywoman's abortion site in Vancouver. Today, the British Columbia Court of Appeal agreed with a previous court and ruled that the so-called "bubble zones" surrounding abortion facilities in BC do not violate the freedom of speech guarantees enshrined in the Charter of Rights.
Although the courts found that prohibitions in the Access to Abortion Services Act on protesting in front of abortion facilities were in violation of the Charter, neither court was willing to overturn those provisions. Instead, they relied on Section 1 of the Charter to uphold the bubble zone, citing it as a "reasonable limitation on the freedom of expression" because of its importance in protecting medical clinics, personnel, and patients. The Court of Appeal was unwilling to restrict the application of the Act to violent and threatening behaviour, claiming a "bright line rule" was essential to enforcement, clarity, and protection.
The two men were charged with violating BC's Access to Abortion Services Act that prohibits pro-life sidewalk counsellors or protesters from coming within 50 metres of an abortion facility. They were holding a wooden cross and signs that said "Abortion is Murder" and "Unborn Persons have a right to live."
A number of interveners in the case argued that the bubble zone law is a violation of constitutionally protected rights of freedom of expression. Interveners included the BC Civil Liberties Association, Canadian Nurses for Life and a coalition of religious groups including the Catholic Civil Rights League and the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada.
The Catholic Civil Rights League today said that the ruling meant, "In effect, within the bubble zones, there would only be allowed a one-sided information zone, limited to abortion providers."
Joanne McGarry said that the law, as it is now interpreted by the courts, "likely makes it an offence for medical information of any kind to be provided within the subject zones, unless it is provided by the abortion provider."
"The Court of Appeal" she said, "has effectively ruled that these bubble zones are to be limited to pro-abortion activities. Presumably the court believes women in B.C. cannot be exposed even to the peaceful presentation of other choices, even if based on a growing recognition of negative post-abortion medical consequences."
The appellants have not as yet announced whether they will seek to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court of Canada.
Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
BC Pro-life Advocates Testing the Limits of Bubble Zones
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/may/06050505.html
Back to TopLatest Headlines
- Cardinal Rigali: You Can't Claim to be "Reducing Abortions" but Publicly Funding them in D.C.
- General Electric to Use Embryonic Stem Cells for Testing, Phase out Lab Rats
- Ohio Supreme Court Allows Planned Parenthood to Conceal Abortion Records in Sexual Abuse Case
- LifeSiteNews Canada Day and Independence Day Message. Taking a few days off. LSN returns Monday July 6
- Heroically Pro-Life Brazilian Archbishop's Resignation Accepted Under Cloud of Vatican Newspaper Misrepresentation
- Pro-Life Groups Announce New Colorado Personhood Initiative
- Judge Puts Kibosh on DC Gay "Marriage" Referendum
- Al Franken Win Hands Supermajority to Senate Democrats
- Group Funded by Canadian Bishops' D&P Joins with Others to Denounce the "Natural Family" and "Family Rights"
- Financially Troubled Planned Parenthood of El Paso Closes Doors
- Abortion Linked to Subsequent Pre-Term Births, New Research Again Confirms
- New Orleans Homosexual Couple Ask Fed. Court to Overturn Marriage Amendment
- Slim Hope Of New Ontario Progressive Conservative Party Leader Promoting Pro-Life, Pro-Family Issues
- Pope Accepts Resignation of Bishop Caught Involved in Homosexual Encounters
- Young Children Removed from UK Schools for "Inappropriate Sexual Behaviour"
- Northern Ireland Politician Cleared of Wrongdoing after Reiterating Christian Teaching on Homosexual Acts
- UK Conservative Leader Speaks at Gay Pride Fundraiser
- More Letters to the Editor on Canadian Catholic Development and Peace Scandal (July 1)
- Letters to the Editor - Readers Respond to Development and Peace Scandal
- Watch This Dramatic New Video on Catholic Bishops Conference Funding of Pro-Abortion Groups
Most Read this Week
- Pro-Lifer Attacked with SUV, Alleged Attacker Charged
- Huckabee Hashes Out Abortion Arguments with Comedian Jon Stewart
- Homosexual Duke U. Director Charged with Offering Adopted 5-Year-Old for Sex
- Amnesty International Caught in "One Big Lie"
- Editorial: Archbishop Weisgerber is Wrong - Vatican Stopped its Donation to UNICEF in 1996
- Famed Fr. Corapi Calls Canadian Bishops' Dissent from Humanae Vitae "Catastrophic"
- Pope: It is a Childish Faith to Oppose the Church Teaching on Life and Family
- LifeSiteNews Detailed Response to Canadian Bishops' Whitewash Report on Development and Peace
- Government of Trinidad and Tobago: No Homosexual "Weddings," No Abortion
- Is Pro-Choice the New Pro-Life?
MORE NEWS: 
LifeSiteNews.com Home Page Last 10 Days Archives Special Reports
Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.