CLC Blog

In an October 31, 2023, meeting of the City of Hamilton’s planning committee, Councillor Maureen Wilson (Ward 1) requested staff look into the feasibility of: 

• Developing a by-law that would require any flyer delivered to a residence be concealed within a sealed envelope, with sender info, and a warning that the contents may be "offensive or disturbing," if said flyer contains "one or more images showing, or claiming to show, a fetus or any part of a fetus”
• “Regulating or prohibiting” the display of such images on signs in public spaces, presumably even taxpayer-owned sidewalks, where Canadians have always had the right to protest

Her motion was carried by a vote of 10 to 0.  

A report is due back by Q2 2024.  

The local activism Campaign Life Coalition and Hamilton Against Abortion do is directly in the crosshairs!  

Above: CLC interns & staff educating the public during "Choice" Chain 

Since CLC headquarters moved to Hamilton in 2020, we’ve partnered with Hamilton Against Abortion to organize “Choice” Chains with abortion victim photography.

With the help of our summer interns, we’ve changed many minds and referred many post-abortive men and women to healing.

They say a “picture is worth a thousand words” and I’ve seen the truth of this adage affirmed over and over. Eyes are opened, hearts are softened, and transformation begins.  

But we may no longer be allowed to do this form of activism anymore!  

Even super benign photos—like an ultrasound image—may be censored! Is this offensive or disturbing to you? 

We can’t let such a by-law come into effect! Please sign our petition today.  

Please also permit me a moment to put this attack on freedom of expression into context... 

It’s heart-breaking that pre-born babies are losing their lives to abortion every single day. Almost 300 will be killed today—just in Canada.  

But at least we as pro-lifers can try to save these lives. We can try to convince a woman to choose life. We can hope those who are abortion-minded will change their minds.  

That’s a small consolation.  

Even if the law won’t protect the most vulnerable and helpless among us, at least we can step into the breach, right?  

Except over the past several years, the life-saving work of the pro-life movement has become increasingly constrained.  

• Bubble zone laws prohibit protest and sidewalk counselling around many abortion facilities in our country.  
• Pro-abortion groups receive government funding (i.e. OUR taxpayer dollars)—but pro-life groups are ineligible for the same funding.  
• Municipalities have frequently refused to permit pro-life ads and to fly pro-life flags…  

And now, some of these municipalities are turning their attentions to restricting the distribution of flyers containing ultrasound photos or abortion victim photography, and maybe even preventing the display of fetal imagery in public all together!  

It’s to be expected, of course. When a human rights injustice is occurring in one’s midst, those complicit need to hide the evidence of it.  

They’ll use the excuse of trying to prevent harm to an unsuspecting public—but they fail to explain how even simple scientific depictions of fetal development that you can find in any embryology textbook are “harmful” and, of course, they fail to consider the severe harm being inflicted on the pre-born.  

Exposing the humanity of the pre-born and the inhumanity of abortion is crucial for saving lives.  

The good news is that it is possible to stop the steady creep of censorship and viewpoint discrimination! 

The Association for Reformed Political Action has just launched a legal challenge against the City of St. Catharines over the same sort of flyer by-law being proposed here. If this challenge succeeds, by-laws in London, Woodstock, and Calgary would be impacted.  

London City Council, which was just considering a similar ban on fetal imagery in public, has decided to go back to the drawing board to develop a by-law that they hope will have a better chance of being considered constitutional.  

We must now convince Hamilton City Council to back off!  

Please sign our petition here and share it with everyone you know who is pro-life… but also everyone you know who simply cares about free speech! 

And I’d also urge you to click the postcard option and donate just $1.75 for a postcard, which we will send to Hamilton City Council on your behalf.  

Even if you’re not from Hamilton, please sign the petition anyway. Our city councillors should know that Canadians from coast to coast are watching closely and won’t let attacks on freedom of expression go unopposed.