Buffer zones protect staff, abortion clinics contend
Protesters harass clients, ministers told during tour of Calgary facility
The director of a Calgary abortion clinic said Wednesday that new legislation from the NDP government to set up buffer zones is needed to protect staff and clients from harassment.
But United Conservative Party Leader Jason Kenney, whose party is refusing to debate or vote on the legislation, said abortion providers should turn to the courts if they have an issue with protesters that needs to be addressed.
Celia Posyniak, executive director of the Kensington Clinic, led NDP Health Minister Sarah Hoffman and Kathleen Ganley, solicitor general and justice minister, on a tour of the clinic and the potential bubble zone on Wednesday.
Bill 9, currently before the legislature, would create a 50-metre zone around abortion clinics where protesters are not allowed.
The Kensington Clinic has had a permanent court order in place to deal with protesters for more than a decade, but Posyniak said the legislation is needed because it will keep protesters at a further distance and lay out set penalties for those who violate the law.
“From time to time, we’ve seen the number of protesters escalate and we spend a lot of the day phoning police or shooing people away and there’s never been any penalties,” she told reporters.
“Sometimes, as soon as the police leave, they’ll come back and do the same thing because there are just no consequences. “So it got just a little too crazy.” Posyniak said in an interview the legislation will also allow for potentially greater access to abortion services in Alberta by providing better protections for doctors in other communities who are willing to perform the service.
The province says abortions are provided only in Edmonton and Calgary.
The Woman’s Health Options clinic in Edmonton also has an injunction against protesters in place.
Posyniak, who requested last year that the government consider legislation, said the issue should be non-partisan but Bill 9 has proven controversial.
Kenney, who is personally opposed to abortion but has promised to make no changes to abortion access if he becomes premier, has accused the NDP of introducing the legislation as a cynical political ploy.
The UCP caucus walked out of the debate after one Opposition MLA, Angela Pitt, spoke to the legislation and Kenney has vowed the party will abstain from voting on the bill.
On Wednesday, the UCP leader reiterated that he saw no need for the legislation.
“There have been bubble zones around clinics in Alberta for two decades,” Kenney told reporters. “If there is a need to strengthen or expand those bubble zones, someone can simply go to court and get an order in a day or two.”
But Posyniak scoffed at the notion that going to court over the issue is a simple task.
“We’re publicly funded,” she said. “We don’t have the money to go in and out of court all the time.”
Hoffman, who is also deputy premier, said Alberta is following the lead of British Columbia and Ontario in having legislation.
She said the court orders in place weren’t sufficient.
“In Edmonton, the injunction didn’t apply to the sidewalk, so they literally would have people blocking the sidewalk and they would have to get through mud puddles to get to their appointment,” she said.