Catholic demonstrators target abortion clinic

Group of protesters mostly Americans who sang, prayed as pro-choice crowd formed human wall

By ALLAN WOODS, The Globe and Mail
Friday, July 26, 2002

Teenagers as young as 15 joined a largely American crowd of adults and priests in prayerful protest against what they called Toronto's "killing centres."

Members of Crossroads, a U.S. anti-abortion group, said they walked from New Orleans to the week-long religious festival, stopping to say prayers at abortion clinics along the way.

They also had targeted the Scott Clinic on Gerrard Street East this week, but yesterday's demonstration had a larger turnout, clinic manager Maria Corsillo said.

The protesters were met by their ideological opposites, the Ontario Coalition for Abortion Clinics, members of which formed a human wall in front of the clinic -- an inconspicuous three-storey brownstone across from Allen Gardens.

The protesters' actions -- they were often on their knees, eyes closed, deep in song or prayer -- angered the more than 50 pro-choice advocates who confronted their opposite numbers several times throughout the five-hour demonstration.

"There is the feeling that these people, because they carry a rosary, because they are kneeling, because they call themselves Catholics, that they're entitled to do this," Ms. Corsillo said. "These people are afforded a latitude that is not afforded to anyone else."

Many of the anti-abortion activists wore the red satchels of World Youth Day visitors, and most said the protest was merely a stop on their way to yesterday's papal-welcoming ceremony.

The protest was advertised in literature found at Exhibition Place, the venue for most of the events. But a WYD spokeswoman, Christina Parsons, said activism is not officially sanctioned. "World Youth Day is pro-life . . . but picketing abortion clinics is not part of the program."

Some of the abortion clinic's defenders, such as Rhonda Roffey, criticized church leaders who have denounced abortion and contraception.

It was pointed out that Australian Archbishop George Pell told 500 young Catholics on Wednesday that abortion is worse than the abuse of young people by priests.

Visitor Hiep Phung, 17, of Chippawa Falls, Wis., said his group of 25 people was asked yesterday morning if it would stop at the clinic to pray.

"I've never done anything like this before," he said.

Christopher Callan of Waterbury Center, Vt., risked arrest when he breached a court injunction preventing protesters from going within 18 metres of the clinic.

"I'm praying for the unborn children who are about to be murdered," he said.

Patients were informed of the protests before they arrived, Ms. Corsillo said. "Religion and prayer can be quite deadly weapons in the wrong hands," she added. "There's a way to terrorize that has nothing to do with guns, and there's a way to intimidate that has nothing to do with violence."

Ms. Roffey said WYD organizers had only to make a statement to distance themselves from the protesters. That they did not do so implicates them, she said.

More than 40,000 abortions are performed each year in about 25 clinics across Toronto, Ms. Corsillo said. About 110,000 are performed annually in Canada.

"Unplanned pregnancy is one of the most common health problems for women, and it is an unplanned health problem," she said.

Police officers and sheriffs were on hand to make sure the injunction was upheld.

Two young women, one wearing a WYD bandana, the other an anti-abortion T-shirt, were warned of arrest when they moved too close to the clinic. They left after a sheriff spoke to them.

"I have a right to stand here and pray," said Anna Cianciara, 20, from Madison, Wis. "I don't understand why I'm not allowed to stand here and say my rosary silently."