Judge acquits 76-year-old Canadian pro-life activist
An Ontario judge has acquitted Linda Gibbons, a 76-year-old Christian grandmother and pro-life activist who was charged with protesting within an “buffer zone” outside an abortion clinic. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Campaign Life Coalition CNA Staff, Dec 17, 2024 / 16:40 pm (CNA).
Here’s a roundup of recent pro-life and abortion-related updates.
Ontario judge acquits elderly pro-life activist
Linda Gibbons is not your average grandmother. This year, she was arrested four times — all for her pro-life activism outside abortion clinics.
The 76-year-old Canadian was brought in and out of an Ontario court in handcuffs before she was finally acquitted on Dec. 5. Ontario judge Maria Speyer ruled that Gibbons was not guilty of criminal mischief to property.
Gibbons was on trial for holding up a sign outside a Toronto abortion facility that performs abortions up to the middle of the second trimester of pregnancy.
Gibbons stood in the 50-meter (164-foot) buffer zone, enacted in 2017 as part of the Safe Access to Abortion Services Act. She held her characteristic sign with an image of a young child that read: “Why Mom? When I have so much love to give.”
Gibbons “did not accost anyone or impede any patient as they made their way to the clinic other than having to step around her,” the judge found. The judge ruled that Gibbons “never stepped onto the walkway leading to the door,” making her not guilty of mischief.
Gibbons, who remained silent during the hearing, has spent a combined nearly 11 years in prison for her pro-life work. She had been in jail since June.
“Justice was done for Linda,” Pete Baklinski, communications director for Campaign Life Coalition, Canada’s national pro-life organization, told CNA.
“The judge clearly saw that Linda’s actions of peacefully witnessing to life in front of the abortion mill in no way amounted to the criminal activity of ‘mischief.’ My hope is that this ruling adds to the growing body of jurisprudence that pro-life advocates have a right to speech in front of abortion centers and that it will be used in future cases to defend their right,” Baklinski said.
Proposed Oklahoma bill would protect unborn
A Republican lawmaker has introduced a bill to increase protection for unborn children and classify abortion as a felony for providers. Oklahoma Rep. Jim Olsen’s House Bill 1008, if passed, would revive a previous Senate bill that was struck down by the Oklahoma Supreme Court after being signed into law in 2022.
Olsen rewrote S.B. 612 to match the preferences of the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruling. H.B. 1008 prohibits providers from performing abortions “unless necessary to preserve the life of a pregnant woman.” The bill provides more protections for unborn children by requiring the medical provider to preserve both the life of the mother and the baby wherever possible unless the birth of the child is a threat to the mother’s life. Abortion is currently only legal in Oklahoma to save the life of the pregnant woman.
The bill would also make it a felony to perform an abortion, with a fine of up to $ 100,000, jail time of up to 10 years, or both. The proposed bill specifies that this would not apply to a woman with any criminal offense in the death of her own unborn child. It would also not prohibit contraceptive drugs used before the time that pregnancy could be determined. The bill notes that a physician would not be liable if the medical treatment provided to a pregnant woman accidentally resulted in the unborn child’s injury or death.
Missouri abortion clinics pause abortions ahead of court ruling
Missouri’s pro-abortion amendment legalizing abortion went into effect on Dec. 6, but local Planned Parenthood clinics are still waiting to begin abortions pending a court ruling on whether abortion restrictions still on the books are valid.
Planned Parenthood Great Plains and Planned Parenthood Great Rivers along with ACLU of Missouri are awaiting a judge’s decision before beginning to perform abortions after suing to strike down regulations on abortion clinics.
Some of the regulations include a 72-hour waiting period between an initial appointment and an abortion and a requirement that the same abortionist who saw the patient is the one to perform the abortion. The law also requires that abortionists have hospital admitting privileges. Abortions fell from an annual average of 5,000 to 167 in 2020 amid these requirements. After Roe v. Wade, a trigger law went into effect, protecting unborn children except for when abortions were medically necessary. In November, Missouri passed Amendment 3, which added “a fundamental right to reproductive freedom” to the state constitution.
