Stop the abuse

No woman should have to run a gauntlet of abuse to access a legal medical procedure.

Yet women seeking abortions at Ottawa’s Morgentaler Clinic must undergo a stream of ugly, if not terrifying, harassment and intimidation when they attempt to enter the building, despite the fact the procedure has been legal in Canada for many decades.

How can this be happening, just steps from Parliament Hill and the Supreme Court of Canada?

Sadly, it’s because there is no law in Ontario that protects people providing or seeking health services at any clinic or medical provider from harassment.

That’s not the case in British Columbia and Newfoundland, which have passed laws to prevent harassment that are backed up by penalties ranging from fines to imprisonment.

As Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson has argued, it’s time Ontario passed similar legislation to protect patients and health care providers in this province.

It seems like an obvious solution. But so far Attorney General Yasir Naqvi, whose Ottawa riding includes the Morgentaler Clinic, has not committed to passing the legislation.

Encouragingly, he has said his government “does not tolerate any form of harassment against women exercising their fundamental right to choose.” Still, he has promised only to study the options available to the province.

Naqvi should be more proactive and draft legislation over the summer recess so it is ready for the fall sitting at Queen’s Park.

Without such legal authority, cities facing these protests are left with few options and deterrents, and none as effective as provincial legislation would be. Under municipal laws, cities can only ticket and fine protesters. Provinces, on the other hand, can arrest and imprison protesters.

As well, not passing the legislation unjustly leaves some clinics, and the women they serve, at a distinct disadvantage compared to others. That’s because some abortion clinics are protected by a 1994 court injunction that created a 500-metre bubble zone keeping protesters at a safe distance from 23 hospitals and clinics where abortions were provided at that time.

The trouble is that clinics established after the 1994 injunction, including the Morgentaler Clinic in Ottawa, are not protected.

That’s why passing legislation that would cover the entire province makes a lot of sense.

Until then, Ottawa police should make it a priority to ensure that patients and employees have harassment-free access to the clinic, without stepping on protesters’ current rights.

Women seeking abortions at Ottawa’s Morgentaler Clinic are subjected to a stream of vile abuse from protesters