New safe zones outside abortion clinics
Jim Watson was the mayor of Ottawa from 1997 to 2000 and has been serving for a second time in that role since 2010. Having also served as an MPP for 7 years including a stint as Ontario’s Minister of Municipal Affairs, he is extremely well connected to the Liberals at Queen’s Park.
Two weeks ago, he petitioned Ontario’s Attorney General to remedy the intimidation that people were experiencing in attempting to access the Ottawa Morgentaler Clinic where abortion and reproduction services for women are provided. He requested a provincial law that would provide a physical zone around the clinic where such harassment by pro-life advocates would be prohibited. He said, “Anyone seeking or providing abortion services should have the right to do so without feeling harassed, threatened or afraid for their safety.” Less than a week later, he stood beside Ontario’s Attorney General Naqvi as he announced a government bill to implement Watson’s proposal, creating safe access zones at facilities that offer abortions so as to ensure the safety and privacy of women, workers and visitors entering and exiting such facilities.
Abortion is a deeply divisive issue about which no opining can satisfy all parties. It has had some currency in Peterborough in recent months, including the pro-life bench and city bus advertising; the new pro-choice bus ads; weekly pro-life and pro-choice vigils in front of the Peterborough Regional Health Centre; (PRHC) and the provocative public statement by MP Maryam Monsef in February that the denial of abortion is itself a form of violence against women.
The concept of safe zones about abortion clinics is not new. In 1994, Ontario Premier Bob Rae’s government sought and received a court injunction that created so-called “bubble zones” of 500 metres outside of facilities where abortions were performed. It affected 23 Ontario hospitals and clinics, most notably Toronto’s Morgentaler clinic, where most of the pro-life activity was focused.
British Columbia has had abortion clinic exclusion zone laws in place since 1996. The Access to Abortion Services Act establishes zones around specific facilities 50 metres from the boundaries of the land on which the facility sits. People must not engage in a variety of disruptive activities such as sidewalk interference; protesting, besetting, physically interfering with or intimidating a service provider; harassment; approaching for the purpose of dissuading; engaging in threatening conduct; or photographing, filming, videotaping or sketching a service provider, doctor or patient.
Last November, Newfoundland and Labrador introduced legislation modelled after the law in British Columbia, similarly keeping protesters at least 50 metres away from the property boundary of a clinic. Last month, Court of Queen’s Bench Judge Leger granted a permanent injunction against anti-abortion activists outside the Chaleur Regional Hospital in Bathurst, New Brunswick.
Ontario’s legislation is expected to be introduced in the fall. It will require a new safe access zone having dimensions yet to be determined around the PRHC – the only facility in the city or county that performs surgical terminations. There may be local doctors offering medical terminations, but their locations are generally not publically known.
While protestors have a cherished right to protest, no woman should have to run a public gauntlet of shame or humiliation to access her choice of health care.
As in some American cities, the Ottawa experience has occasionally involved a repugnant display of threatening and mean-spirited intimidation, much like the former Toronto Morgentaler Clinic experience. As we balance the right to free expression with that of safe access to legal health care services, a respectful measure of civility protects us all, and safe zones are a good step in its support.