By Patrick B. Craine
TORONTO, Ontario, September 1, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Pro-life leaders are calling on concerned individuals to show up en masse at a hearing in the ongoing trial of Canadian pro-life “prisoner of conscience” Linda Gibbons this Thursday.
“It’s important that as many people as possible go to show their support, not only to Linda, but to the judge,” wrote Alissa Golob, head of Campaign Life Coalition Youth, on behalf of CLC national president Jim Hughes. “If Linda wins this case, the temporary injunction on Toronto abortion clinics could be lifted.”
The “temporary” injunction, imposed in 1994, created a “bubble zone” around three Toronto abortion facilities where pro-life counselling and witnessing are prohibited. Gibbons, however, has continued to prayerfully and silently protest in front of those facilities, a crime for which she has spent eight of the last 16 years in prison.
She has been in prison continuously since her last arrest on January 20, 2009. She refuses to agree to a bail condition that demands she stay away from the facilities.
While a win in Gibbons' case will not quash the injunction, pro-lifers believe it would be a major step toward that goal. If the injunction is lifted, Golob explained, pro-life activists “would not have to obey the ‘bubble zones’ that restrict people from counseling or demonstrating within so many feet of these clinics.”
In an opinion piece for the Toronto Sun Wednesday entitled “Justice aborted for Linda Gibbons,” Brian Lilley questions the overwhelming silence regarding Gibbons’ case from media, politicians, and lobby groups.
“If a similar attempt to shut down free speech outside of a legislature or city hall or even a gathering of world leaders had taken place, there would be an uproar,” he argues. “The civil liberties groups would demand the law be overturned. There would be daily warnings about Canada turning into a police state. Opposition politicians at the federal and provincial level would demand answers.”
The hearing is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 2 at College Park in Toronto. The address is 444 Yonge Street, and the hearing will be in room 504 on the second floor. Golob reports that the hearing is expected to go no longer than one hour.
“I will be there and would love to see all of you as well,” writes Golob. “Mark it on your calendars. THIS THURSDAY! 10AM!”
See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Ontario’s Crown Accused of Abusing Legal System in Linda Gibbons Case
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/aug/10081206.html
Linda Gibbons Hits Cover of National Post
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/aug/10080307.html