Pro-choice advocates sour on Scotsburn fundraiser

A Nova Scotia abortion advocate says she won’t be buying Scotsburn products any more.

Shannon Hardy, founder of Abortion Support Services Atlantic, was surprised to discover the dairy company was contributing money to a faith-based “pregnancy care” centre.

She wasn’t the only one caught o guard. So, too, was the owner of the small grocery who agreed to promote it.

Last winter, Scotsburn approached Avery’s Farm Markets in the Annapolis Valley about offering a promotion in their Wolfville store: If they put up a sign, a couple of bucks from each four-litre jug of milk would go to a local charity: Valley Care Pregnancy Centre.

“I was just thinking teenage girls, pregnant, no support or whatever ... OK ...” says farm and market owner Steven Avery.

“(We thought we were) just helping a charity.”

en he discovered the money from the month-long promotion was actually going to an antiabortion organization.

“I sure do regret it,” says Avery. He says a local Scotsburn representative suggested the group be the recipient of the funding back in February. He didn’t think anything of it at the time, only that he might be helping vulnerable young women who found themselves pregnant with little to no support.

Discovering the money had gone to a group that works to prevent abortion came as a shock.

He himself had no previous connection to the group.

“I was surprised that such a big company would partner with an organization like that,” says Julie Veinot, executive director of the Lunenburg Sexual Health Centre, “very surprised.”

Scotsburn’s parent company is Saputo. It responded to media requests with this statement: “Our only intent with this program was to help a local charity and support the community.”