London, Ontario City Council Urged to Restrict & Censor Right-to-Life Groups
City Councillors in London, Ontario are trying to censor pro-life activism and hide the truth about abortion in their city.
There are two by-laws being proposed to London’s Community and Protective Services Committee that were explicitly designed to censor pro-life activists by stopping the distribution of pro-life flyers that show the reality about abortion through graphic imagery.
One of these by-laws proposes fining people for delivering unaddressed flyers to properties that have “No Flyers”, “No Junk Mail”, or “No Unsolicited Mail”. The other bylaw bans the distribution of any flyer that contains graphic imagery, with the example being “dismembered human beings or aborted fetuses” but also bans anything that “may cause or trigger a negative reaction to the health and wellbeing of any person at any scale”. The maximum fine for violating either of these bylaws is $5,000.
These by-laws censor peaceful pro-life protests and deny pro-life activists their freedom of expression, which is guaranteed to them in The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. On Tuesday, March 22nd, they’ll be debating and possibly voting on these by-laws!
These by-laws were drafted largely as a response to activism that pro-life groups such as The Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform (CCBR) have done in London in 2020, though these forms of activism have happened in London long before then from groups like London Against Abortion.
Radical pro-abortion groups such as Pro-Choice London and Viewer Discretion Legislation Coalition have been doing everything they can to censor London’s thriving pro-life movement. They’ve been crafting their own petitions and lobbying politicians, with the support of the mainstream media at every step.
So even by-laws that pretend to be neutral by censoring all flyers must be called out for what they are: an attempt by radical-leftist activists to use the government to censor their political opponents.
CCBR has stated that they believe they’re being denied their Charter right to freedom of expression, and other local pro-life groups such as the London Area Right to Life Association have stated the same.
Governments must never ban the distribution of “triggering” images when they depict the harsh reality of evils that are occurring in society.
Images that cause discomfort or even have graphic material have been essential to many protest movements, whether it be ones opposing unjust wars and tyrannical dictatorships, or social evils such as slavery and child labour.
It’s always in the interests of those in power who support such evils to sanitize these evils and keep them invisible. It’s the only way their propaganda can be effective.
This is why there are bubble zones around abortion clinics throughout much of Canada, and why London is trying to punish anyone who dares to show an image of an aborted baby in public. These images decimate the narrative that abortion is merely a “women’s choice about her body” and shows it for what it really is: the brutal killing of an unborn human child.
We must stand up for our right to freedom of expression, and not let governments decide which peaceful protests are allowed, and which are not.
Thanks for all you do,
James Schadenberg and the entire CitizenGO Team
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