Let New Brunswick Decide
By Joanne Byfield

Peter Ryan, executive director of New Brunswick Right to Life, updated attendees to the national conference in Vancouver last month about the situation in his province. Pro-lifers in NB have been under incredible pressure over the past six months, he said.

“There have been over 200 articles or columns in our newspapers,” he reported. The attention is related to the ongoing battle in the province over funding of abortions at private clinics and the shut-down of abortion services at the only two hospitals that were performing them.

Over the summer, Show the Truth toured the province with their graphic images of aborted fetuses. The displays angered many people and kicked off a huge debate about abortion and the use of graphic images. When Show the Truth displayed their signs across from the Morgentaler Clinic in Fredericton, the police actually took on the role of escorting women to the clinic for their abortions.
Last month, Suzie Ryan, Peter’s wife, was arrested for praying with a picture of an aborted baby outside the abortion clinic. She was charged with displaying an obscene image. She is still waiting to hear if the charges will proceed.

Mr. Ryan told delegates to the LifeCanada Annual General Meeting that prayer was a vital component of the campaign to stop abortions in New Brunswick. Pro-lifers prayed in the Moncton hospital every week for months. Then hospital officials told them they would no longer be allowed to pray in the hospital chapel. They moved across the street to a church. “The first day we were to pray at the church, hospital officials announced they would stop doing abortions,” said Mr. Ryan, who said doctors were no longer willing to do the procedure.

The prayers then moved to the Chalmers Hospital in Fredericton. They began to pray in the hospital chapel once a week. Mr. Ryan’s group also placed roses at the legislature, one rose for every 10 babies killed. They surrounded the Morgentaler Clinic with roses. Finally, said Mr. Ryan, they decided to lay roses in the Chalmers Hospital. “I couldn’t decide how many roses because we weren’t sure how many abortions were done there,” he said. “I had this feeling I should put 40 roses which would signify 400 abortions even though that was more than the hospital had ever performed before.” He placed 40 roses in hospital lobby with a note explaining what the roses were for. The next day, the local newspaper had a headline announcing that the hospital would stop performing abortions with a smaller headline which said the hospital had performed 400 abortions the year before. “God was having the final word,” said Mr. Ryan.

The former federal Liberal government had appointed an arbitration panel to deal with a complaint by the Morgentaler Clinic that the province refused to fund abortions at the clinic. Mr. Ryan said it was very disappointing that the new Conservative government was proceeding with the panel. Health care is a provincial responsibility he said and the federal government should let the government and people of New Brunswick decide whether to pay for services at the private, for-profit Morgentaler Clinic. New Brunswick is the only province that does not pay any of the cost of abortions at private clinics. Mr. Ryan urged pro-lifers to write to the Prime Minister asking him to drop the dispute panel with New Brunswick on abortion and let the province decide for itself. You can write to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.  You should copy your letter or email to your own Member of Parliament.  

Joanne Byfield is the President of LifeCanada.  This article first appeared in The Rose and is reprinted with permission.