Canadians: Tell Ontario legislature to stop power-grab by chief electoral officer
TORONTO (LifeSiteNews) — Pro-life heroine Linda Gibbons has been acquitted of a criminal mischief for witnessing outside a Toronto abortion mill.
In a December 5 decision, Ontario Court Justice Maria Speyer ruled that 76-year-old pro-life grandmother Linda Gibbons is not guilty of criminal mischief for holding a pro-life sign outside Toronto’s notorious Morgentaler Clinic earlier this year.
“Ms. Gibbons’ presence outside the Toronto abortion clinic with her sign was meant to dissuade patients from having an abortion, something they have a legal right to do,” Speyer wrote in her decision. “The message on the sign was no doubt very upsetting to patients and staff. They may also have resulted in one patient canceling or postponing the procedure.”
However, Speyer determined that “even if that was Ms. Gibbons’ intended result, it does not amount to criminal mischief to property.”
It is important to note that while abortion is legal in Canada up until 9 months, there is no “right” to abortion in the nation, as the practice currently exists in a legal vacuum with no legislation governing it.
Speyer did point out that during her pro-life witness, Gibbons “did not accost anyone or impede any patient as they made their way to the clinic other than having to step around her.”
“Nor is there any evidence that Ms. Gibbons blocked or in any way obstructed the entrance to the clinic,” she continued. “Similarly, there is no evidence that Ms. Gibbons intimidated anyone at the clinic or approaching the clinic.”
“I am not persuaded that Ms. Gibbons did anything other than attend near the clinic for the purpose of communicating information to patients, for the purpose of dissuading them from having an abortion,” she explained, explaining that such activity is protected under the law.
Gibbons has been jailed since June after being arrested a fourth time for deliberately skipping a court hearing related to her pro-life advocacy, which saw her witnessing in silence in front of the same Morgentaler Clinic.
In July, Gibbons was sent to a mental health court after she chose to stay silent during her court hearings. In September, two key witnesses testified that Gibbons’ activism did in fact not “interfere” with the abortion clinic’s day-to-day operations.
Gibbons’ first arrest of the year occurred the morning of May 23.
She was released from jail on May 27 after appearing at a bail hearing via video conference.
Gibbons’ activism is largely considered illegal because of Ontario’s “Safe Access to Abortion Services Act,” which was put into effect on February 1, 2018, and was passed the previous year by then-Premier Kathleen Wynne’s Liberal government. The law bans any pro-life activity, including praying, sidewalk counseling and showing “disapproval” of abortion within 50 meters of Ontario’s eight abortion facilities.
Gibbons blasted Wynne’s law, saying the “contrived provincial law, the Crown’s self-declared authority” is “that serpent head bows its head to the death mill on Hillsdale Ave making it a justice-free zone, sanitized of any recognition of rights for unborn humanity.”
While the law was implemented by Liberals, the long-reigning Progressive Conservative government of Doug Ford has never challenged the law.
Before her 2024 arrests, Gibbons was last arrested in September 2015 after conducting a similar silent protest in front of the Morgentaler abortion center.
After Gibbons spent 141 days in jail, an Ontario judge in 2016 convicted her of breaking a 1999 civil injunction that bans pro-life activities within 500 feet of Toronto’s Morgentaler abortion facility. This injunction was later superseded by Ontario’s “Safe Access to Abortion Services Act.” Gibbons was released from jail after her conviction.
In total, Gibbons’ pro-life advocacy has resulted in her spending about 11 years in jail for her peaceful witness in honor of mothers and unborn children.
The Liberal federal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has in recent months amped up its pro-abortion rhetoric.
According to CLC, abortion has killed in Canada over four million preborn babies, which is roughly the equivalent to the population of Alberta since its legalization in 1969.
Canadians: Tell Ontario legislature to stop power-grab by chief electoral officer