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There was a law passed that made it illegal to protest within a 'hospital' zone if I remember no?
Hospital zones were marked on the surrounding roads with a blue patch like you see at 10th Ave and Cambie
https://goo.gl/maps/Pu8myadGviRbkpHu5
This protest is totally not cool. I wonder if there's a loophole because when they're not on the sidewalk, they are touching an area used for religious purposes???
I'm not defending them but I'm wondering if that's how they're getting away with it. It's terrible. I have passed by there before and they set it up so that you have to pass by them parking at the hospital.
Here is the legislation [https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/21033](https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/21033)
Note that it addresses blocking/interfering with access, and intimidation causing concern for one's safety. It doesn't prevent protesting altogether, it couldn't, freedom of speech is in the constitution.
(There is also BC's *Access to Abortion Services Act* but to my knowledge it doesn't create a zone around BC Women's, that's not one of the facilities listed in the reg.)
As abhorrent as those anti-choice protests are, as troubling and manipulated as the imagery is, I can't really see them enforcing this act against those protestors.
Edit: why is this comment controversial when I'm the only one in the thread who actually bothered to look up the law lol
Freedom of Speech is a US constitutional right, not a Canadian one. Canada has limits on speech that were incorporated in the criminal code in relation to treason, sedition, blasphemous and defamatory libel, disruption of religious worship, hate propaganda, spreading false news, public mischief, obscenity, indecency and other forms
It could be argued that their protest would fit into a couple of those categories although likely never enforced.
Freedom of expression is absolutely a Canadian constitutional right. My bad for using the colloquial "freedom of speech" but like, you know what I meant! Come on.
There are of course limits on constitutional rights, but anti-choice protests happen in this country all the same, and as I said I just can't see them arresting this kind of protester, either under the bubble zone law or any Crim Code provision. They are (and I really don't want to minimize the mental harm of having to face these protestors, but I mean in the grand scheme of police enforcement) not harming anyone enough.
What most of the "freedom of speech" crowd doesn't seem to grasp is that freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom from consequences. You CAN say anything you want. Some of those things carry consequences.
I mean yeah, I'm with you, but what freedom of speech/expression DOES actually address is the ability of laws to block or ban forms of expression. A protestor's freedom of expression doesn't stop me, an individual, from yelling back at them when I walk by on the street, but it does limit the government's ability to block or ban protests outright.
Which is what we are talking about in this thread, because OP was wondering whether there is a law or bylaw that could stop this protest.
Because ppl on reddit r inadequate chumps that cant handle a reasonable counterpoint, ur not even arguing for anti abortion activists ur merely describing the law.
I don't know how to make it more clear that I am PRO-CHOICE. Pro-choice to the point that I have been to a number of counter-protests, and that's why I bother to be familiar with the actual law. Lots of people in this thread are just vaguely quoting the "bubble zones" without realizing that they are only 20m, which is just about the location of [this sign on the north end of the Archdiocese's lot](https://goo.gl/maps/QiFSfNiongXwnRUD9).
You know who else is pretty well-versed in these laws, in my experience? Anti-choicers. There is always going to be at least one person there who knows EXACTLY where the 20 meter line is. OP has left this thread thinking "oh next time I'll just call the VPD", but I guarantee you that if they even show up, they'll see the protest is outside the bubble and go on their way.
I'm really and truly not arguing for this group, I'm just trying to let people know that this law isn't going to solve the problem they see. If you actually want to do something, organize a counter-protest, advocate for legal changes, volunteer your time.
ANYWAY, now I'm bitching about downvotes which I promised myself I would never do.
Because you’re stating a truth not too many people want to admit. Similar to how out of all the rapes that actually get reported to police, only something like 3% actually make it through the court system with a guilty conviction.
I can’t imagine a worse approach to gaining support for a cause… go protest at city hall, or some other political establishment, that has the capacity to make policy changes.
Stay the fuck away from hospitals.
Or one of them, or one of them with their teenage daughter will show up needing services, and that’s different, because [The Only Moral Abortion is MY Abortion](https://joycearthur.com/abortion/the-only-moral-abortion-is-my-abortion/)
Agreed. With the time they are spending harassing women they could be volunteering to help youth, troubled youth, or even a soup kitchen. They are only looking to hurt not help.
No no no, it’s about the life of babies before they’re born, even if unwanted or deformed, because as you know, growing up in an unloving environment being tossed around until you outgrow a system and become homeless is preferable to not being born at all /s
This was the same deal with the spin off convoy protests.
Back in Feb 2022 they protested in Vancouver and chose a route that took them by three hospitals so they could harass patients and staff. The whole city came out of the wood work to mess with them.
A week later there was another protest that targeted media outlets instead of hospitals and no one gave a shit.
My friend works in agriculture and got stopped on a dirt road by those guys in the middle of bumfuck nowhere while he was just trying to get to work to care for and feed some livestock (so, pretty important to do consistently, right?) and there was no way out or around. He rolled down his window to ask someone to just let him leave already and the guy went “we care about lives!” as he was backing off and my friend just went “no you fucking don’t” and drove away.
Exactly... if they were this adamant about it, they'd be outside provincial legislature... but they'd rather fuck with people trying to recieve medical assistance.
Fuck these assholes.
Isn’t that the entrance to the early loss clinic? Like where I had to go because at 12 weeks I lost the pregnancy I wanted?
Regardless of why you need an abortion - it’s a MEDICAL PROCEDURE. Are they gonna protest cancer clinics too? Cancer is a living thing ffs.
It is. And the abortion clinic is the leading provider in BC of terminations of very wanted pregnancies for medical reasons - a lot of abortions there of fetuses who will never make it.
They're harassing so many women on one of the worst days of their lives.
I imagine that there’s a degree of magical thinking here among anti-choice activists. It’s like a prosperity gospel of health; if a woman is living a sin-free life, god wouldn’t punish her with a miscarriage or fetal anomaly. Or, she needs to submit herself to his will and pray that the lord saves her fetus, if not her.
In the US we’re seeing two things happen:
1) anti-choice activists and lawmakers are using specific language to distance themselves from the logical conclusions of the laws that are being passed (which have lead to massive suffering by pregnant people and their families, and will eventually lead to someone’s death), and
2) some groups are doubling down and criminalizing any miscarriage they deem to be “suspicious”.
In sum, the cruelty is the point.
I'm so sorry you had to go through that. Miscarriage is rough during and after. I'm appalled that some of the laws in the states prohibit or limit it. It's so dangerous and yet they won't understand or consider the need until they are impacted by it.
Thank you.
It bothers me so much that care is not readily available everywhere. Even within Canada, the east coast is specifically sorely lacking in access.
I’ve never been more grateful to live in Canada, and specifically the GVRD. Within 24 hours of being told the pregnancy was not viable, I had a surgical appointment for 1.5 weeks later and abortion pills in hand and all the information I needed to make the right decision for me.
Reading stories about pharmacists who refuse to fill prescriptions in the US for misoprostol, clinics forcing women to wait 72+ hours for treatment, having to drives thousands of miles to access care, etc.
I know why it’s become a political issue, it’s incredibly frustrating and angering when so many women are being denied life saving medical care.
And these assholes go and stand outside with photos of what women have lost.
It would be good if it wasn't stigmatized so much so that women can get proper care and treatment.
The whole process literally makes you feel so sick. Mine was very early on so I didn't get any treatment to process it and let the body flush it out on its own.
They just do a hormone check afterwards to make sure that everything is flushed out.
Western society has such a huge emphasis on pregnancy and birth but little care on after care. Miscarriage should also be included as aftercare. I think that having a miscarriage is literally like giving birth at earlier stages.... brutal on the body and mind
I agree, it is a service that should rightfully be given on demand to anyone with a unwanted pregnancy as part of routine, normal, unstigmatized healthcare. "On demand, no questions asked". (More exactly, done with informed consent alone).
I'm quite resentful that it is a political issue. I don't care how a person got pregnant it is irrelevant, or their reasons for ending the pregnancy from medical necessity, to just plain not ready to bring a life to life, to a hell of dysphoria eg for pregnant men.
A pharmacist that refuses to fill a prescription that is prescribed to a patient, is unprofessional and derelict in their duties. If they cannot do their job of dispensing medication to patients within the boundaries of medical science then they should not be pharmacists. Their personal life morals are irrelevant and as a professional they should acknowledge this.
Religious moral objections are irrelevant. We do not bind our law to religious morals. (Though yes it is heavily based on colonial religious laws and such and such, it is not BOUND to it.) Law must be bound to reason, in a pluralistic society. And no one has any right to impose their religious laws on others, not even on their children.
It is. I had to walk in there and deliver my still born, I cannot imagine having to also pass these fucking assholes on the way in. Like any of us are happily choosing to walk in there and commit a goddamn “crime”. This makes my blood boil.
Update: thank you redditors, I forgot about the “bubble zone” legislation. I have emailed an inquiry to Vancouver bylaw. I will provide an update when I hear back.
The update is that the bubble zone is provincial legislation and needs to be dealt with by VPD. I will use their non-emergency line next time I see the protesters.
It's always "one black sheep in the fold", you can't blame everyone for it!
When, if we are going to criticize a group, a group who's *one job* is to supposedly create ethical people, is so many times embroiled in these things;;; At the very least their hiring managers are really terrible at their jobs.
No, these are the ones protesting drag shows calling them pedos. The fucked up part is that the religious groups are the ones molesting children, not drag queens. Textbook deflection.
I am a health care provider at BCWH.
I give them the finger fucking DAILY as I drive in to provide care and CHOICE for my clients.
Disgusting behavior. Outrageous.
I went by again to see if they were there before calling in to VPD non-emergency but they had totally left. Vancouver bylaw instructed me to have VPD to check that they’re in compliance since bubble zone is provincial legislation. If I see them again I will call VPD immediately, you should too, since you’re there more often.
>throw eggs at them
You mean chickens...according to them you'd be throwing baby chickens at them.
I'd happily donate a few cartons for you, but it's likely you'd be the only one police would pay attention to.
Now you’re giving them too much credit - I think they’re just too stupid (or indoctrinated, more likely) to understand the moral nuance of abortion. They see the world in black and white, which means they genuinely believe that children are being murdered at abortion clinics. You can’t really blame them for responding in this way, if that’s actually how they see the world. We should definitely criticize the ideology though
My mother in law is a really religious person and a bit dummy. My sister in law lost two fetus at 4 months mark because of heart problem those fetus were carrying.
MIL kept repeating to SIL who was grieving that god has bigger plans, that everything happens for a reason, that it s god’s way to tell her that she is not supposed to have a second kid. (!!!)
They discovered that it was a gene in the fetus DNA that caused those issues and they really really want a second kid so they started a FIV procedure, selecting cells that don t carry said gene. MIL keeps repeating that it is not god’s way, god will not accept that kid to be because he is not “natural” and whatnot.
It s extremely hard not to slap MIL in the face when she says shit like that.
They are not even consistent with their stupid belief. If everything is god creation, medicine and FIV procedure too. Plus god would punish somebody over something he has zero power over? (Aka Being a FIV baby) Doesn t sound like a really accepting and forgiving god to me.
I can t share that too much with my surrounding so thank you strangers for listening.
I really don t like stupid people
Strange how all of these forced birth advocates never seem to spend their free time or resources at any children's center or fostering/adopting children. Their concern starts and ends with the fetus, and is more about believing that women should function as a broodmare for the state than it is about protecting life in any way.
i literally just got an abortion here like 10 minutes ago and still waiting to be released. fuck those guys. but i feel like a proper anti protester now. pro prosperous and safe life for mother and child. anti forced birth into unsafe environments
If you haven’t left yet, the hospital is connected to Children’s so you can exit from the other side if that would feel safer for you. There are also multiple exits from BC Women’s.
BCWH is where I got my tubes removed, ensuring that I would never enter into a situation where I would need an abortion. (I am extremely pro-choice.) Funny that they're blocking access to a hospital that performs procedures that ultimately support their own cause? Ridiculous assholes. Maybe the archdiocese should have a look at their child molester priests before pretending to be concerned about children. Edited to add that it's a laughable thing to protest here in Canada, abortion rights aren't going anywhere like they are in the States.
>it's a laughable thing to protest here in Canada, abortion rights aren't going anywhere like they are in the States.
Never take our laws or rights for granted. Those protesters are pushing hard to get into government, and you'd better believe they'd remove our rights and equalities given the opportunity.
Also the big issue in Canada is ACCESS. We need providers to do abortions, and intimidation and harassment is a big deterrent to practicing that care. Also we still have issues in Canada— there are still “crisis pregnancy centres” everywhere that trick pregnant people searching for medical help. We can’t take these rights for granted or let people infringe on them.
If you protest in front of a hospital, go fuck yourselves. If you have a problem with a policy, then go to the freaking government buildings. The people at BC Children's and Women's have enough to deal with, excluding this archaic bullshit.
Can we do an anti-anti-abortion protest? I had to do an abortion few years ago because the infant died and my body refused to accept this fact and my fake pregnancy continued on, the embryo was reabsorbed by my body but the rest of it kept growing, I had to get an abortion or risk heavy blood loss.
that's what i wanna do... show up with my speaker and play good vibes music and show some love and support to anyone coming into the clinic... gotta tip the scales towards better energy
The fetal photos are faked and manipulated images. They are gored up to cause the most offence because fear pays the bills in churches and right wing movements that want to oppress women.
If you know anyone who is involved in the cult aspects of the church like anti-abortion activism, it's important to talk to them about how religion and the law should never mix. Otherwise, they could one day lose their own rights in favour of someone else's religion.
Someone dropped off a pamphlet with these kinds of images to my house when I was pregnant with my second and my first was stillborn. I ran out and saw her delivering to my neighbours and screamed at her that I knew what a dead baby looked like because I gave birth to one and I didn’t need that shit thanks. I hope she reconsidered her participation but who knows.
Agreed, but based on a quick look at google maps, and a reading of the OP, the Archdiocese property is a block or more away from the hospital, and the protestors may be standing on the public sidewalk. I don't think this protest could be construed as impeding access to the hospital.
Freedom of expression isn't restricted to ideas that we agree with.
This isn't a protest. It's a group harassment session meant to bully and intimidate.
If they were protesting they would do it at a government office where decisions are made, not a medical building where vulnerable women who often don't want to be there are.
I had a D&C there 10 years ago when my miscarriage didn’t complete for a very wanted baby boy. It was a horrible day and it would have been made worse by seeing this. Abortion is healthcare, end of story.
20 years ago I had to push through a crowd of them in the same place for the same reason. One of them tried to block my entrance with a "dead baby parts" sign. Fun memory 😕
Absolutely fuck these people, they are evil. I was in that exact clinic with my wife a few weeks ago for a D&C after a 10 week miscarriage. It would have been absolutely devastating to walk past these idiots. This makes me so, so angry. Fuck them.
How fucking hard is it for people to live their own lives and mind their own fucking business? If something isn’t harming anyone else, then sit the fuck down and shut the fuck up. Sorry for cursing so much, I just can’t fathom how people take time out of their lives to force their opinion on people. Boggles the mind.
I am an employee at BCCH and there nothing that starts my day with RAGE more than seeing these turds Protesting “pray to end abortion”. I suggest you email the archdiocese from the “get in contact” section and provide your opinion.
https://rcav.org/about/contact
I emailed them last year as These people started showing up and protesting at the same time it was announced more bodies of child victims were discovered at a former catholic residential school ground. It was just so sickening. The response I got is these people are peacefully supporting the “40 days of Prayer” for abortion to end. And sorry I was offended LOL
>https://rcav.org/about/contact
I live in the neighborhood and sometimes walk past these protests. it makes my blood boil. On the plus side, I did see some kids on skateboards telling them to fuck off last summer which was cool.
Ugghhh! We have those same groups here almost every weekend- protesting the same subjects, and their freedumbs. The best advice is drive past them without giving them the satisfaction of looking at them- which is what they really want.
POS protestors leave other people's bodies alone. Argh this is so awful poor women who need to get health care there maybe we can do a counter protest of some sort *sigh*
It’s a [criminal offence](https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2021PREM0071-002169) to protest outside of a hospital in BC.
OP, contact the VPD and City of Vancouver Bylaw.
Seriously, fuck these right-wing religious nut jobs. They need to crawl back to whatever hole they came from.
Can I come protest in retaliation that I am a single mom who can’t afford daycare for my kid while I’m trying to put myself through post secondary so I can make sure my kid doesn’t have to suffer in poverty like I did growing up? Where are the pro lifers who guilted me now?
Does anyone know if there are any volunteer services I can do to walk out with women as they're leaving? I imagine that folks want safe passage to their cars or transit.
I may not be able to remove protestors 🙄 from the area but maybe I can help those who are trying to exist and just take care of their bodies?
My brother's wife had 3 miscarriages and BCWH was there for them in their time of need. Fuck these assholes trying to take away health services from women and families in need
I’m thinking we need to recruit some lactose intolerant people and a few big breed dogs, feed them milkshakes bean burritos and cabbage rolls, and disperse them through the crowd to do gods work and do a little crop dusting so the protesters can smell like their ideas. An experience a small karmic dose of their own medicine. Skunk spray and weed smoke or boiled eggs could also be useful in this context. No assault, just one on the olfactory senses. Harmless petty revenge. Some unmasked sneezing could be fun too. Perhaps a ‘protesting is gay’ sign?!??
I have had to drive by these protestors when going to the Recurrent Pregnancy Loss clinic on multiple occasions. They are just pouring salt in my already broken heart.
Religious (Abrahamic religions) people are legitimately insane hypocrites. Their God is literally pro abortion, and pro murder of actual real born children.
Examples: Drowned pregnant women, children, and babies in the great flood. First born babies and children in Egypt (Exodus 11-15), God gets two bears to maul 42 children (Kings 2:23-24), A literal abortion recipe (Numbers 5:11-31), pregnant women, children and babies again in the battle of Jericho.
I'm sure I could come up with more, but I'm feeling lazy.
I remember turning a corner at lonsdale NV and being greeted with a massive hoarde of anti abortion protestors with signs standing on the curb. Some of them were even children. It broke my heart.
I used to work at BCWH. IIRC, there's a specific time of year that anti-choice protests often happen across the city (UBC Lifeline was notorious for hosting a week of them right around the same time, where folks carried posters [equating abortion to genocide](https://www.ubyssey.ca/news/pro-life-activists-outside-lasserre-building/), depicting photos of the Holocaust. Yeah. It was horrible.) March is significant somehow?
In any case, Providence Health care (which manages the St. Vincent long term care facility that faces Heather and backs onto Willow) is a faith-based health authority. I don't know if all elders who choose to live there are catholic, but I would assume some choose it as their long term housing because of this. Every year, a group of older men and women residents (often in their 70s and 80s) would be out with their posters in this same section of lawn along Willow, which I believe was legally the closest they could get to the hospital. Thankfully there were other entrances to the hospital that clients could use, regardless of what they needed to access services for, but staff would try and warn folks to take a different way in.
Unrelated, St. Paul's Hospital is a Providence Health Authority hospital. It's not commonly known, as there aren't many ways that being under a faith-based health authority impact the care folks receive there. But I've worked with physicians who spent time in their ER, and they've shared that SPH training policies to discourage handing out Plan B to ER patients. Anyone who works at SPH ER currently: can you confirm if this is still the case? Last colleague who checked was roughly a year ago.
Granted, that wasn't something any physician I worked with enforced, and by the sounds of it it wasn't part of the clinical practice there at all, as most clinicians didn't even know that policy existed unless they went digging for it (and few did). But it's one of those wild relics of what it means to have a faith-based hospital in a largely secular metropolis.
I know SPH does not offer abortion services because providence has a history of religious affiliation. Hopefully the new SPH doesn’t keep the antiquated standard.
Gotta love that there's always one sad little fuck in these threads defending a mob interfering with people's access to medicine.
Abortion is legal in Canada. If you don't like it you can move the fuck to Tennessee. Nothing is keeping you here. Leaves the rest of us alone.
I saw them after coming from BC women’s for my NST. I fingered them as I went by. People are clueless. I had a termination last year, for a very very wanted pregnancy, but baby had a chromosomal abnormality.
Sorry to ask. Does people truly understand women's health?
If the protestors were men, I think we should make sure they cannot impregnated women, so as to avoid the need of unnecessary abortions. Bad example of a father; bad example for future men.
If the protestors were women, there are plenty of ways to make them see situations that they would desperately need an aborption. (My imagination is boyndless.) Sorry for their daughters already.
Is this really happening in Canada?
They’re there all the time. A swift showing of a certain finger always makes me feel temporarily better. But yes because they’re on the religious housing property they’re allowed to be there with their signs. Assholes.
Oh this makes my blood boil. Driving in Surrey last week some some religious people with signs. Then saw a group of three on commercial with a Jesus pinny. What’s going on 🤢
I’ve seen how ignoring these nut-jobs turns out just south of us. Let’s not go down that path; time to start building more elementary schools for these adults to get educated in.
Outraging! I once spotted such group while waiting for the traffic light at the intersection of Marine drive and Capilano road. 3 women were holding large posters of dismembered fetus. Unfortunately my 4 yo noticed it too and started asking questions. I had to lie something about chickens meat advertising. Still feel bad for any children who were forced to see it and understood what it was. Isn’t it some form of a child abuse, which is ridiculous considering those “activists” are “fighting” for children’s rights?
I’m guessing that was around the same time as I saw them at Main and Mountain Highway, and then again a week or so later at Keith and Mountain Highway. Joke was on them the second time around - I was just running casual errands that day and they were 3 mins from a Michael’s, so I went and made my own (family friendly) signs. They had a video camera out but I’d bet my smiling, waving, dancing, and “Mine Looked Like Boba” sign didn’t make it into the propaganda films they were clearly trying to make. They infuriate me as well, and I think that they consider outrage or anger a win so I try and kill ‘em with kindness and, ya know, facts. Their confusion as I put on my bubbliest persona and said “Buh-bye! See ya next time!” while they got ready to leave really made my day haha
Edit to add that I got 69 zone minutes on my Fitbit during my little counter protest, which filled me with childish glee
In front of a hospital where I'd be willing to bet many people having abortions are making that decision because of medical necessity or fetal anomalies incompatible with life this is so exceptionally cruel I cannot fathom it.
And yes I am aware, the cruelty is the point.
I live near by and have seen them there 1-3 times a week for many months. Today I noticed it had gotten larger and moved onto the sidewalk so I’ve had enough.
They've been doing it for years. They used to protest outside the kids Ronald McDonald House on Heather Street. That set a new my expectations of humanity to a new low for me.
That’s sad. This was/is very common when I lived in the US (I actually was going to the eye doctor one time and some old lady begged me to reconsider getting an abortion. It was totally bizarre). While I’m sure there’s likely permits they can get to protest, if it persists BCWH could start a program for volunteers to accompany women to their appointments, this is what is done often by Planned Parenthood and is a good way to provide empathy to women who need it.
It's amazing that the same people who decided to call their friends "them" or "those" can't yet call this group "pro-life" and allow them to peacefully demonstrate.
Bylaw against the use of public space for public demonstrations? Sidewalks?? I hope you're joking. Where else are you going to "publicly" demonstrate? Nowhere. You effectively want to ban protests, then?
No within a hospital zone. Also, have you heard of permits? If I can protest publicly anywhere, let me protest on your doorstep, you wouldn’t want to “ban protests” would you?
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There was a law passed that made it illegal to protest within a 'hospital' zone if I remember no? Hospital zones were marked on the surrounding roads with a blue patch like you see at 10th Ave and Cambie https://goo.gl/maps/Pu8myadGviRbkpHu5
That would be VGH, I wonder if it applies to BCWH and BCCH
All hospitals. But only within a certain radius
This protest is totally not cool. I wonder if there's a loophole because when they're not on the sidewalk, they are touching an area used for religious purposes??? I'm not defending them but I'm wondering if that's how they're getting away with it. It's terrible. I have passed by there before and they set it up so that you have to pass by them parking at the hospital.
[удалено]
Here is the legislation [https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/21033](https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/21033) Note that it addresses blocking/interfering with access, and intimidation causing concern for one's safety. It doesn't prevent protesting altogether, it couldn't, freedom of speech is in the constitution. (There is also BC's *Access to Abortion Services Act* but to my knowledge it doesn't create a zone around BC Women's, that's not one of the facilities listed in the reg.) As abhorrent as those anti-choice protests are, as troubling and manipulated as the imagery is, I can't really see them enforcing this act against those protestors. Edit: why is this comment controversial when I'm the only one in the thread who actually bothered to look up the law lol
Freedom of Speech is a US constitutional right, not a Canadian one. Canada has limits on speech that were incorporated in the criminal code in relation to treason, sedition, blasphemous and defamatory libel, disruption of religious worship, hate propaganda, spreading false news, public mischief, obscenity, indecency and other forms It could be argued that their protest would fit into a couple of those categories although likely never enforced.
The US also has limits to free speech
Very few compared to Canada. [https://www.thefire.org/research-learn/limits-free-speech](https://www.thefire.org/research-learn/limits-free-speech)
Freedom of expression is absolutely a Canadian constitutional right. My bad for using the colloquial "freedom of speech" but like, you know what I meant! Come on. There are of course limits on constitutional rights, but anti-choice protests happen in this country all the same, and as I said I just can't see them arresting this kind of protester, either under the bubble zone law or any Crim Code provision. They are (and I really don't want to minimize the mental harm of having to face these protestors, but I mean in the grand scheme of police enforcement) not harming anyone enough.
What most of the "freedom of speech" crowd doesn't seem to grasp is that freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom from consequences. You CAN say anything you want. Some of those things carry consequences.
I mean yeah, I'm with you, but what freedom of speech/expression DOES actually address is the ability of laws to block or ban forms of expression. A protestor's freedom of expression doesn't stop me, an individual, from yelling back at them when I walk by on the street, but it does limit the government's ability to block or ban protests outright. Which is what we are talking about in this thread, because OP was wondering whether there is a law or bylaw that could stop this protest.
A lot of people these days definitely do not know the difference. Otherwise I wouldn't have commented at all.
Because ppl on reddit r inadequate chumps that cant handle a reasonable counterpoint, ur not even arguing for anti abortion activists ur merely describing the law.
I don't know how to make it more clear that I am PRO-CHOICE. Pro-choice to the point that I have been to a number of counter-protests, and that's why I bother to be familiar with the actual law. Lots of people in this thread are just vaguely quoting the "bubble zones" without realizing that they are only 20m, which is just about the location of [this sign on the north end of the Archdiocese's lot](https://goo.gl/maps/QiFSfNiongXwnRUD9). You know who else is pretty well-versed in these laws, in my experience? Anti-choicers. There is always going to be at least one person there who knows EXACTLY where the 20 meter line is. OP has left this thread thinking "oh next time I'll just call the VPD", but I guarantee you that if they even show up, they'll see the protest is outside the bubble and go on their way. I'm really and truly not arguing for this group, I'm just trying to let people know that this law isn't going to solve the problem they see. If you actually want to do something, organize a counter-protest, advocate for legal changes, volunteer your time. ANYWAY, now I'm bitching about downvotes which I promised myself I would never do.
Because you’re stating a truth not too many people want to admit. Similar to how out of all the rapes that actually get reported to police, only something like 3% actually make it through the court system with a guilty conviction.
I can’t imagine a worse approach to gaining support for a cause… go protest at city hall, or some other political establishment, that has the capacity to make policy changes. Stay the fuck away from hospitals.
They don't want actual change, that would take their cause away from them. They just want to hurt women.
And afterwards they'll go to a freedom rally where they claim we live in a totalitarian state.
Or one of them, or one of them with their teenage daughter will show up needing services, and that’s different, because [The Only Moral Abortion is MY Abortion](https://joycearthur.com/abortion/the-only-moral-abortion-is-my-abortion/)
This is a fantastic article. Thank you so much for the link.
You’re welcome!
That was an eye opening read. Thank you for linking that article.
Truth
Wow! Interesting article. Thanks for the link.
>They just want to hurt women. Sad, but true.
Agreed. With the time they are spending harassing women they could be volunteering to help youth, troubled youth, or even a soup kitchen. They are only looking to hurt not help.
They want to hurt and control women. They think women's freedoms have gone too far, which is why they're doubling down more recently.
No no no, it’s about the life of babies before they’re born, even if unwanted or deformed, because as you know, growing up in an unloving environment being tossed around until you outgrow a system and become homeless is preferable to not being born at all /s
When they’re motivated by outrage and umbrage rather than compassion there isn’t much they can do.
Control women. They just want to control woman.
They are not trying to gain support. They just wanted to make life harder for others.
This was the same deal with the spin off convoy protests. Back in Feb 2022 they protested in Vancouver and chose a route that took them by three hospitals so they could harass patients and staff. The whole city came out of the wood work to mess with them. A week later there was another protest that targeted media outlets instead of hospitals and no one gave a shit.
My friend works in agriculture and got stopped on a dirt road by those guys in the middle of bumfuck nowhere while he was just trying to get to work to care for and feed some livestock (so, pretty important to do consistently, right?) and there was no way out or around. He rolled down his window to ask someone to just let him leave already and the guy went “we care about lives!” as he was backing off and my friend just went “no you fucking don’t” and drove away.
That’s still happening. They went into Surrey Memorial a month or so ago.
Weren't there laws passed to specifically not allowed them to do this around schools and hospitals?
They’re too stupid to know that
That probably doesn't help since they can't read.
If there ever was a use for police crowd control, it would be for this
Exactly... if they were this adamant about it, they'd be outside provincial legislature... but they'd rather fuck with people trying to recieve medical assistance.
We truly are Americas top hat, with stunts like this.
Fuck these assholes. Isn’t that the entrance to the early loss clinic? Like where I had to go because at 12 weeks I lost the pregnancy I wanted? Regardless of why you need an abortion - it’s a MEDICAL PROCEDURE. Are they gonna protest cancer clinics too? Cancer is a living thing ffs.
It is. And the abortion clinic is the leading provider in BC of terminations of very wanted pregnancies for medical reasons - a lot of abortions there of fetuses who will never make it. They're harassing so many women on one of the worst days of their lives.
I imagine that there’s a degree of magical thinking here among anti-choice activists. It’s like a prosperity gospel of health; if a woman is living a sin-free life, god wouldn’t punish her with a miscarriage or fetal anomaly. Or, she needs to submit herself to his will and pray that the lord saves her fetus, if not her. In the US we’re seeing two things happen: 1) anti-choice activists and lawmakers are using specific language to distance themselves from the logical conclusions of the laws that are being passed (which have lead to massive suffering by pregnant people and their families, and will eventually lead to someone’s death), and 2) some groups are doubling down and criminalizing any miscarriage they deem to be “suspicious”. In sum, the cruelty is the point.
I'm so sorry you had to go through that. Miscarriage is rough during and after. I'm appalled that some of the laws in the states prohibit or limit it. It's so dangerous and yet they won't understand or consider the need until they are impacted by it.
Thank you. It bothers me so much that care is not readily available everywhere. Even within Canada, the east coast is specifically sorely lacking in access. I’ve never been more grateful to live in Canada, and specifically the GVRD. Within 24 hours of being told the pregnancy was not viable, I had a surgical appointment for 1.5 weeks later and abortion pills in hand and all the information I needed to make the right decision for me. Reading stories about pharmacists who refuse to fill prescriptions in the US for misoprostol, clinics forcing women to wait 72+ hours for treatment, having to drives thousands of miles to access care, etc. I know why it’s become a political issue, it’s incredibly frustrating and angering when so many women are being denied life saving medical care. And these assholes go and stand outside with photos of what women have lost.
It’s not even the rest of Canada, there aren’t even regular surgical abortions in fucking FRASER HEALTH. The lack of access is appalling.
It would be good if it wasn't stigmatized so much so that women can get proper care and treatment. The whole process literally makes you feel so sick. Mine was very early on so I didn't get any treatment to process it and let the body flush it out on its own. They just do a hormone check afterwards to make sure that everything is flushed out. Western society has such a huge emphasis on pregnancy and birth but little care on after care. Miscarriage should also be included as aftercare. I think that having a miscarriage is literally like giving birth at earlier stages.... brutal on the body and mind
I agree, it is a service that should rightfully be given on demand to anyone with a unwanted pregnancy as part of routine, normal, unstigmatized healthcare. "On demand, no questions asked". (More exactly, done with informed consent alone). I'm quite resentful that it is a political issue. I don't care how a person got pregnant it is irrelevant, or their reasons for ending the pregnancy from medical necessity, to just plain not ready to bring a life to life, to a hell of dysphoria eg for pregnant men. A pharmacist that refuses to fill a prescription that is prescribed to a patient, is unprofessional and derelict in their duties. If they cannot do their job of dispensing medication to patients within the boundaries of medical science then they should not be pharmacists. Their personal life morals are irrelevant and as a professional they should acknowledge this. Religious moral objections are irrelevant. We do not bind our law to religious morals. (Though yes it is heavily based on colonial religious laws and such and such, it is not BOUND to it.) Law must be bound to reason, in a pluralistic society. And no one has any right to impose their religious laws on others, not even on their children.
It is. I had to walk in there and deliver my still born, I cannot imagine having to also pass these fucking assholes on the way in. Like any of us are happily choosing to walk in there and commit a goddamn “crime”. This makes my blood boil.
Update: thank you redditors, I forgot about the “bubble zone” legislation. I have emailed an inquiry to Vancouver bylaw. I will provide an update when I hear back.
Would this bubble-zone legislation also impact counter-protestors aiming signs at the Archdiocese offices? Asking for a friend. 🧐
The Archdiocese number is (604) 683-0281, I’m sure they have a process for receiving complaints from the public.
Probably. Protest is protest. If enforcement came on scene, they would not be there to choose sides on which protest was more valid. Tread carefully.
The update is that the bubble zone is provincial legislation and needs to be dealt with by VPD. I will use their non-emergency line next time I see the protesters.
What is further enraging is that this Archdiocese has been embroiled in various child abuse allegations.
Yeah what's with these god botherer's being so chill with pedophilia?
It's always "one black sheep in the fold", you can't blame everyone for it! When, if we are going to criticize a group, a group who's *one job* is to supposedly create ethical people, is so many times embroiled in these things;;; At the very least their hiring managers are really terrible at their jobs.
Sigh…and they probably also protest drag shows and call drag entertainers “groomers”
No, these are the ones protesting drag shows calling them pedos. The fucked up part is that the religious groups are the ones molesting children, not drag queens. Textbook deflection.
They need to look after their own before they start telling other people how to live their lives.
I am a health care provider at BCWH. I give them the finger fucking DAILY as I drive in to provide care and CHOICE for my clients. Disgusting behavior. Outrageous.
I went by again to see if they were there before calling in to VPD non-emergency but they had totally left. Vancouver bylaw instructed me to have VPD to check that they’re in compliance since bubble zone is provincial legislation. If I see them again I will call VPD immediately, you should too, since you’re there more often.
Roger that. I’ll have the non-emergency number ready to dial via Bluetooth on future commutes. 👍🏻
💪
Are they there every day? Please message me when they are and I will gladly visit to throw eggs at them
>throw eggs at them You mean chickens...according to them you'd be throwing baby chickens at them. I'd happily donate a few cartons for you, but it's likely you'd be the only one police would pay attention to.
Ahahahahah. I'm ok being arrested for throwing future chickens who could have cured cancer at idiots. I'll be careful tho
I am so fucking tired of religious people.
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100 percent also do they legit have nothing better to do with their time? That's a lot of hate and energy they're putting into this.
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Now you’re giving them too much credit - I think they’re just too stupid (or indoctrinated, more likely) to understand the moral nuance of abortion. They see the world in black and white, which means they genuinely believe that children are being murdered at abortion clinics. You can’t really blame them for responding in this way, if that’s actually how they see the world. We should definitely criticize the ideology though
What a bunch of turds
There's a LOT of overlap in that Venn diagram, it's nearly a circle.
Are they mutually exclusive?
They’re the same thing.
My mother in law is a really religious person and a bit dummy. My sister in law lost two fetus at 4 months mark because of heart problem those fetus were carrying. MIL kept repeating to SIL who was grieving that god has bigger plans, that everything happens for a reason, that it s god’s way to tell her that she is not supposed to have a second kid. (!!!) They discovered that it was a gene in the fetus DNA that caused those issues and they really really want a second kid so they started a FIV procedure, selecting cells that don t carry said gene. MIL keeps repeating that it is not god’s way, god will not accept that kid to be because he is not “natural” and whatnot. It s extremely hard not to slap MIL in the face when she says shit like that. They are not even consistent with their stupid belief. If everything is god creation, medicine and FIV procedure too. Plus god would punish somebody over something he has zero power over? (Aka Being a FIV baby) Doesn t sound like a really accepting and forgiving god to me. I can t share that too much with my surrounding so thank you strangers for listening. I really don t like stupid people
As an American, it sucks to see these stupid religious people emboldened by all the success stupid religious Americans have had in the US recently.
As a fellow American, I did not move up here to have to keep dealing with this shit.
Right wingers. It’s right wingers. Plenty of religious people are pro freedom, it’s a minority but yknow.
Strange how all of these forced birth advocates never seem to spend their free time or resources at any children's center or fostering/adopting children. Their concern starts and ends with the fetus, and is more about believing that women should function as a broodmare for the state than it is about protecting life in any way.
Once the child is born, they don't give a shit. As others have noted in the thread, it's all about control.
i literally just got an abortion here like 10 minutes ago and still waiting to be released. fuck those guys. but i feel like a proper anti protester now. pro prosperous and safe life for mother and child. anti forced birth into unsafe environments
Hope they’re gone by the time you’re out & that you have a safe and soft day 💜
Stay safe and healthy ❤️
If you haven’t left yet, the hospital is connected to Children’s so you can exit from the other side if that would feel safer for you. There are also multiple exits from BC Women’s.
BCWH is where I got my tubes removed, ensuring that I would never enter into a situation where I would need an abortion. (I am extremely pro-choice.) Funny that they're blocking access to a hospital that performs procedures that ultimately support their own cause? Ridiculous assholes. Maybe the archdiocese should have a look at their child molester priests before pretending to be concerned about children. Edited to add that it's a laughable thing to protest here in Canada, abortion rights aren't going anywhere like they are in the States.
>it's a laughable thing to protest here in Canada, abortion rights aren't going anywhere like they are in the States. Never take our laws or rights for granted. Those protesters are pushing hard to get into government, and you'd better believe they'd remove our rights and equalities given the opportunity.
Also the big issue in Canada is ACCESS. We need providers to do abortions, and intimidation and harassment is a big deterrent to practicing that care. Also we still have issues in Canada— there are still “crisis pregnancy centres” everywhere that trick pregnant people searching for medical help. We can’t take these rights for granted or let people infringe on them.
They are against birth control and sterilization too .
Get your rosaries off my ovaries!
If you protest in front of a hospital, go fuck yourselves. If you have a problem with a policy, then go to the freaking government buildings. The people at BC Children's and Women's have enough to deal with, excluding this archaic bullshit.
Abortion = healthcare. You don’t see any protesting JW outside of the blood clinic and they are intensely against blood transfusions..
Can we do an anti-anti-abortion protest? I had to do an abortion few years ago because the infant died and my body refused to accept this fact and my fake pregnancy continued on, the embryo was reabsorbed by my body but the rest of it kept growing, I had to get an abortion or risk heavy blood loss.
that's what i wanna do... show up with my speaker and play good vibes music and show some love and support to anyone coming into the clinic... gotta tip the scales towards better energy
The fetal photos are faked and manipulated images. They are gored up to cause the most offence because fear pays the bills in churches and right wing movements that want to oppress women. If you know anyone who is involved in the cult aspects of the church like anti-abortion activism, it's important to talk to them about how religion and the law should never mix. Otherwise, they could one day lose their own rights in favour of someone else's religion.
Someone dropped off a pamphlet with these kinds of images to my house when I was pregnant with my second and my first was stillborn. I ran out and saw her delivering to my neighbours and screamed at her that I knew what a dead baby looked like because I gave birth to one and I didn’t need that shit thanks. I hope she reconsidered her participation but who knows.
Well said
F*ck the lot of them. Anyone impeding access to a hospital should be prosecuted.
Agreed, but based on a quick look at google maps, and a reading of the OP, the Archdiocese property is a block or more away from the hospital, and the protestors may be standing on the public sidewalk. I don't think this protest could be construed as impeding access to the hospital. Freedom of expression isn't restricted to ideas that we agree with.
This isn't a protest. It's a group harassment session meant to bully and intimidate. If they were protesting they would do it at a government office where decisions are made, not a medical building where vulnerable women who often don't want to be there are.
I had a D&C there 10 years ago when my miscarriage didn’t complete for a very wanted baby boy. It was a horrible day and it would have been made worse by seeing this. Abortion is healthcare, end of story.
20 years ago I had to push through a crowd of them in the same place for the same reason. One of them tried to block my entrance with a "dead baby parts" sign. Fun memory 😕
I’m sorry that they were such pricks to you at a very difficult time.
Jesus. I’m so sorry you had to go through that.
Thank you!
Im so sorry for your loss, this is why this conversation is so very important
Pray to end anti-abortion protestors.
These people need to keep their fucking stupid thoughts to their stupid selves. Don’t force your backwards beliefs onto others lives.
Absolutely fuck these people, they are evil. I was in that exact clinic with my wife a few weeks ago for a D&C after a 10 week miscarriage. It would have been absolutely devastating to walk past these idiots. This makes me so, so angry. Fuck them.
The irony is that women getting abortions *are* choosing life - their life.
LEGIT
How fucking hard is it for people to live their own lives and mind their own fucking business? If something isn’t harming anyone else, then sit the fuck down and shut the fuck up. Sorry for cursing so much, I just can’t fathom how people take time out of their lives to force their opinion on people. Boggles the mind.
“Why is it that most of the people who are against abortion are people you wouldn’t want to fuck in the first place?” George Carlin
I am an employee at BCCH and there nothing that starts my day with RAGE more than seeing these turds Protesting “pray to end abortion”. I suggest you email the archdiocese from the “get in contact” section and provide your opinion. https://rcav.org/about/contact I emailed them last year as These people started showing up and protesting at the same time it was announced more bodies of child victims were discovered at a former catholic residential school ground. It was just so sickening. The response I got is these people are peacefully supporting the “40 days of Prayer” for abortion to end. And sorry I was offended LOL
>https://rcav.org/about/contact I live in the neighborhood and sometimes walk past these protests. it makes my blood boil. On the plus side, I did see some kids on skateboards telling them to fuck off last summer which was cool.
Ugghhh! We have those same groups here almost every weekend- protesting the same subjects, and their freedumbs. The best advice is drive past them without giving them the satisfaction of looking at them- which is what they really want.
The absolute joblessness of this behavior
OooooOoooo. Both insulting and intensely accurate. A+ comment.
POS protestors leave other people's bodies alone. Argh this is so awful poor women who need to get health care there maybe we can do a counter protest of some sort *sigh*
It’s a [criminal offence](https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2021PREM0071-002169) to protest outside of a hospital in BC. OP, contact the VPD and City of Vancouver Bylaw. Seriously, fuck these right-wing religious nut jobs. They need to crawl back to whatever hole they came from.
If only their parents aborted them sorry was that too harsh lol
Can I come protest in retaliation that I am a single mom who can’t afford daycare for my kid while I’m trying to put myself through post secondary so I can make sure my kid doesn’t have to suffer in poverty like I did growing up? Where are the pro lifers who guilted me now?
Pro-forced birth. They don’t actually care about life.🤬
Does anyone know if there are any volunteer services I can do to walk out with women as they're leaving? I imagine that folks want safe passage to their cars or transit. I may not be able to remove protestors 🙄 from the area but maybe I can help those who are trying to exist and just take care of their bodies?
Are the protesters aware that women go there for health care, including delivering babies. The protesters need to get lives.
Uh, this is not even a Canadian political issue. It's not up to debate. Anyone who runs on this platform is not going to get elected.
Holy fuck, here I am thinking I've sorted out my anger problems and NOW I WANNA FUCKIN PUNCH PEOPLE IN THE FACE AGAIN FUUUUUCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK
If the churches want to engage in political discourse, blurring the line between church and state, then tax the churches.
Dress up as flamboyantly as possible, make a "gay to end abortion" sign, and go glam it up right in front of the peoples banners.
My brother's wife had 3 miscarriages and BCWH was there for them in their time of need. Fuck these assholes trying to take away health services from women and families in need
I’m thinking we need to recruit some lactose intolerant people and a few big breed dogs, feed them milkshakes bean burritos and cabbage rolls, and disperse them through the crowd to do gods work and do a little crop dusting so the protesters can smell like their ideas. An experience a small karmic dose of their own medicine. Skunk spray and weed smoke or boiled eggs could also be useful in this context. No assault, just one on the olfactory senses. Harmless petty revenge. Some unmasked sneezing could be fun too. Perhaps a ‘protesting is gay’ sign?!??
Hopefully they can protest for housing price instead
These losers always have something to complain about
Not your body? Not your choice! Period.
Take pictures ; name and shame. Don't be part of the paradox of tolerance.
I have had to drive by these protestors when going to the Recurrent Pregnancy Loss clinic on multiple occasions. They are just pouring salt in my already broken heart.
Religious (Abrahamic religions) people are legitimately insane hypocrites. Their God is literally pro abortion, and pro murder of actual real born children. Examples: Drowned pregnant women, children, and babies in the great flood. First born babies and children in Egypt (Exodus 11-15), God gets two bears to maul 42 children (Kings 2:23-24), A literal abortion recipe (Numbers 5:11-31), pregnant women, children and babies again in the battle of Jericho. I'm sure I could come up with more, but I'm feeling lazy.
I remember turning a corner at lonsdale NV and being greeted with a massive hoarde of anti abortion protestors with signs standing on the curb. Some of them were even children. It broke my heart.
I used to work at BCWH. IIRC, there's a specific time of year that anti-choice protests often happen across the city (UBC Lifeline was notorious for hosting a week of them right around the same time, where folks carried posters [equating abortion to genocide](https://www.ubyssey.ca/news/pro-life-activists-outside-lasserre-building/), depicting photos of the Holocaust. Yeah. It was horrible.) March is significant somehow? In any case, Providence Health care (which manages the St. Vincent long term care facility that faces Heather and backs onto Willow) is a faith-based health authority. I don't know if all elders who choose to live there are catholic, but I would assume some choose it as their long term housing because of this. Every year, a group of older men and women residents (often in their 70s and 80s) would be out with their posters in this same section of lawn along Willow, which I believe was legally the closest they could get to the hospital. Thankfully there were other entrances to the hospital that clients could use, regardless of what they needed to access services for, but staff would try and warn folks to take a different way in.
Unrelated, St. Paul's Hospital is a Providence Health Authority hospital. It's not commonly known, as there aren't many ways that being under a faith-based health authority impact the care folks receive there. But I've worked with physicians who spent time in their ER, and they've shared that SPH training policies to discourage handing out Plan B to ER patients. Anyone who works at SPH ER currently: can you confirm if this is still the case? Last colleague who checked was roughly a year ago. Granted, that wasn't something any physician I worked with enforced, and by the sounds of it it wasn't part of the clinical practice there at all, as most clinicians didn't even know that policy existed unless they went digging for it (and few did). But it's one of those wild relics of what it means to have a faith-based hospital in a largely secular metropolis.
I know SPH does not offer abortion services because providence has a history of religious affiliation. Hopefully the new SPH doesn’t keep the antiquated standard.
Would love to see (and join) a Satanic Temple counter-protest
Scumbags
Americanism BS moving up I see... Someone needs to release the skunks...
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Stop pushing your beliefs on people.... Get a life and stay outta mine.
Gotta love that there's always one sad little fuck in these threads defending a mob interfering with people's access to medicine. Abortion is legal in Canada. If you don't like it you can move the fuck to Tennessee. Nothing is keeping you here. Leaves the rest of us alone.
Medical facilities should be off limits to protesters period. Fuck these people.
I saw them after coming from BC women’s for my NST. I fingered them as I went by. People are clueless. I had a termination last year, for a very very wanted pregnancy, but baby had a chromosomal abnormality.
Does the hospital even perform abortions? When I got mine done it was from an independent facility. God we really are turning into America …
Awful people.
Anti-abortion is like so 1800s - like why do people care if the other person wants to be a mom or not. Bizzare.
Those losers should get a life and Adopt one.
This is awful!
Sorry to ask. Does people truly understand women's health? If the protestors were men, I think we should make sure they cannot impregnated women, so as to avoid the need of unnecessary abortions. Bad example of a father; bad example for future men. If the protestors were women, there are plenty of ways to make them see situations that they would desperately need an aborption. (My imagination is boyndless.) Sorry for their daughters already. Is this really happening in Canada?
The entire premise of an anti-abortion protest makes ZERO sense.
Sneakily leave a large “Forced Birthers” sign next to these protesters.
They’re sick
Losers
Remember, you can do your part to help by actively handing them out adoption papers!
🎤
They act “Pro life” except for when someone needs to rush to a hospital for a life saving procedure
I bet any money none of these people aid kids in foster
They’re there all the time. A swift showing of a certain finger always makes me feel temporarily better. But yes because they’re on the religious housing property they’re allowed to be there with their signs. Assholes.
Find out which churches are stand up for these wingnuts and go protest them ( on sunday) if they are getting into politics then start paying taxes !
What a productive way to spend a beautiful Wednesday.
Oh this makes my blood boil. Driving in Surrey last week some some religious people with signs. Then saw a group of three on commercial with a Jesus pinny. What’s going on 🤢
Damn I need to be there with the sign that says pro rape babies just to see whats their reaction.
Can someone srsly throw water balloons at them lol?
No, assault is still assault.
I’ve seen how ignoring these nut-jobs turns out just south of us. Let’s not go down that path; time to start building more elementary schools for these adults to get educated in.
Outraging! I once spotted such group while waiting for the traffic light at the intersection of Marine drive and Capilano road. 3 women were holding large posters of dismembered fetus. Unfortunately my 4 yo noticed it too and started asking questions. I had to lie something about chickens meat advertising. Still feel bad for any children who were forced to see it and understood what it was. Isn’t it some form of a child abuse, which is ridiculous considering those “activists” are “fighting” for children’s rights?
I’m guessing that was around the same time as I saw them at Main and Mountain Highway, and then again a week or so later at Keith and Mountain Highway. Joke was on them the second time around - I was just running casual errands that day and they were 3 mins from a Michael’s, so I went and made my own (family friendly) signs. They had a video camera out but I’d bet my smiling, waving, dancing, and “Mine Looked Like Boba” sign didn’t make it into the propaganda films they were clearly trying to make. They infuriate me as well, and I think that they consider outrage or anger a win so I try and kill ‘em with kindness and, ya know, facts. Their confusion as I put on my bubbliest persona and said “Buh-bye! See ya next time!” while they got ready to leave really made my day haha Edit to add that I got 69 zone minutes on my Fitbit during my little counter protest, which filled me with childish glee
Why? Do these people not have jobs?
Anyone know if they're still there? I might go up and politely blow some weed smoke in their faces until they disperse
https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2021PREM0071-002169 good until July 1 2023, can you call the VPD non emergency line?
In front of a hospital where I'd be willing to bet many people having abortions are making that decision because of medical necessity or fetal anomalies incompatible with life this is so exceptionally cruel I cannot fathom it. And yes I am aware, the cruelty is the point.
There might be a bubble zone law, but it will probably take digging to find.
How often are they there?
I live near by and have seen them there 1-3 times a week for many months. Today I noticed it had gotten larger and moved onto the sidewalk so I’ve had enough.
They've been doing it for years. They used to protest outside the kids Ronald McDonald House on Heather Street. That set a new my expectations of humanity to a new low for me.
If one can't use public space to protest what's left? But in front of a hospital might be against the law.
Man, imagine a world without anti-abortion protests… what would we do!?
That’s sad. This was/is very common when I lived in the US (I actually was going to the eye doctor one time and some old lady begged me to reconsider getting an abortion. It was totally bizarre). While I’m sure there’s likely permits they can get to protest, if it persists BCWH could start a program for volunteers to accompany women to their appointments, this is what is done often by Planned Parenthood and is a good way to provide empathy to women who need it.
We need draw a line in the sand and ban protests at hospitals
It's amazing that the same people who decided to call their friends "them" or "those" can't yet call this group "pro-life" and allow them to peacefully demonstrate.
Bylaw against the use of public space for public demonstrations? Sidewalks?? I hope you're joking. Where else are you going to "publicly" demonstrate? Nowhere. You effectively want to ban protests, then?
No within a hospital zone. Also, have you heard of permits? If I can protest publicly anywhere, let me protest on your doorstep, you wouldn’t want to “ban protests” would you?
someone should egg them