Anti-abortion protesters are peaceful. So why should they be moved away?

By all accounts, those anti-abortion protesters at Freeport Health Care Centre are extremely well-behaved.

The police have had no reports of infractions as the protesters stand quietly across the street from the entrance.

They don’t shout or bang on the windows of cars that are turning into the centre, which is a campus of Grand River Hospital where abortions are provided.

They just hold their signs that show photos of fetuses, or words like “Pray to End Abortion.”

So it seems unfair that their right to protest is likely to be compromised, now that Grand River Hospital has decided to apply for a “safe zone” that would keep them 150 metres from the property line.

When that gets granted, as it almost certainly will, the protesters will have to stand much further away — past Morrison Road on one side, and on the other side of the Grand River on the other.

Earlier this month, the provincial Safe Access to Abortion Services Act went into effect. It states protesters at abortion clinics have to stand 50 metres away from the property line. As for other facilities that offer abortion services, including health centre, hospitals, pharmacies and medical offices, they can apply for a safe zone that keeps protesters 150 metres away.

Grand River Hospital hadn’t received complaints from patients, so it didn’t plan at first to apply.

But that changed after a discussion with Lyndsey Butcher, executive director of the SHORE Centre (formerly Planned Parenthood, it stands for Sexual Health Options, Resources and Education).

Butcher said 330 people have sent messages in support of a safe zone. She told hospital officials that women who must encounter the protesters feel harassed and judged, at the very time when they feel most alone, anxious and frightened.

They shouldn’t have to feel that way when they are accessing health care to which they have every right, Butcher added.

These protesters are well-behaved now, but that could change. More radical and disruptive anti-abortion organizations are moving around the province and could arrive here. Some carry signs with photos of Nazi death camps, likening that to abortions, she said.

SHORE’s Facebook page offers some sample comments supporting the move.

One woman recalled that she was waiting to turn into Freeport’s driveway, when she made eye contact with a protester.

“We didn’t speak to each other, but I could hear the words she was thinking,” the woman wrote.

“That woman didn’t know me or my circumstances, but she judged me for a decision that was mine to make.”

Another woman was going to Freeport for a mammogram, but found the “graphic” posters “highly triggering,” because she had endured several miscarriages.

A former staff member described feeling “uneasy and unsafe” at having to pass by the protesters, and said it made the workplace less than optimal.

The hospital hadn’t heard these kinds of comments before. Once they knew about them, the way forward was clear, said Judy Linton, the hospital’s vice-president of clinical services.

“It’s our job as a hospital to put our patients first.”

Linton said she doesn’t want to obstruct free speech and pointed out that the protesters will still be allowed to make their point, just from further away.

But whether you’re protesting a controversial speaker at a university, or standing up against an employer who won’t negotiate with unionized workers, it definitely reduces the impact of your message if you can’t be close to whatever offends you.

It does chip away at freedom of speech, one of the most sacred rights we have in a democratic society.

The SHORE Centre, quite rightly, is focused on empowering women with unwanted pregnancies.

The hospital, quite rightly, is focused on providing the best possible experience for all its patients.

But who is focused on the right of people to speak out against a situation they consider unjust?

We didn’t speak to each other, but I could hear the words she was thinking. WOMAN ON FACEBOOK Supports hospital move