Shame on Saskatchewan govt. for banning pro-life witnessing outside of hospitals
Campaign Life Coalition denounces the passage of a bill in Saskatchewan that bans pro-life free speech and witnessing outside of provincial hospitals that commit abortions.
“Scott Moe’s government will now have the blood of preborn children on its hands in passing legislation that bans pro-life advocates from witnessing to life outside of the province’s two hospitals that commit abortion,” said Jeff Gunnarson, National President of Campaign Life Coalition.
“Just last week we received news from a pro-life advocate whose witnessing outside of Saskatoon City Hospital helped convince a young pregnant woman not to abort her baby. This bill now makes it illegal for pro-life advocates to be close at hand to help abortion-minded women to change their minds. This will only result in more unborn Canadians being killed. Shame on all those who passed this legislation.”
The Public Health (Safe Access to Hospitals) Amendment Act, 2021 (Bill 48) amends the public health act to create a 50-metre “safe access zone” around provincial hospitals. While the bill aims at keeping vaccine-mandate protests 50 metres away from hospital property, it also bans any non-union protests, including those organized by pro-life advocates who peacefully try to persuade women not to abort their preborn children. The bill was passed on November 24. The temporary legislation is designed to expire in two years.
“Canadians who believe in freedom of speech should be outraged by this totalitarian censorship law. It is stunning and horrifying to behold taxpayer-owned public sidewalks throughout the province now being transformed into official 'No Free Speech Zones,'” said Gunnarson.
Gunnarson said that politicians have “used the cover of the Covid-19 pandemic to increase government control over our lives, to reduce our political freedom and to make it difficult to criticize government policy.”
“Pro-lifers and all who want Canada to remain a free country must resist," he added.
Josie Luetke, CLC’s Youth Coordinator, called out the province’s government for betraying preborn children along with pro-life advocates.
“Scott Moe’s government was not only the first relatively ‘pro-life’ government to pass ‘bubble zone’ legislation, but also the first conservative government to do so. When so-called ‘pro-life’ conservatives are doing the work of social liberals and the censorious left-wing elite, we’ve lost any sense of meaningful ideological diversity,” she said.
“Premier Moe and Health Minister Paul Merriman don’t get to call themselves ‘pro-life’ anymore. In quashing free speech, they’ve not only betrayed preborn children targeted for abortion but also the social conservative base of the Saskatchewan Party.”
“I urge every pro-lifer in Saskatchewan to demand that Bill 48 be repealed,” she said.
About Campaign Life Coalition
Campaign Life Coalition is a national, non-profit organization involved in political action and advocacy for legal and cultural change in Canada with respect to protecting human life & the family. For more info visit www.campaignlifecoalition.com.
Media Contacts
Jeff Gunnarson, President, Campaign Life Coalition, 519-835-8201, [email protected]
Josie Luetke, Youth Coordinator, Campaign Life Coalition, 800-730-5358, ext. 220, [email protected]
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