What would you do to your grandmother if she insisted on warning you against entering a certain place of business? What if she stood at the door and asked, "Do you know the dangers you will encounter if you enter there?"
Can you picture a grandmother doing that? I can hear her saying, “Please son, don’t go into the casino; you can’t afford to lose more money." I can see her at the entrance to a bar, saying, “Please daughter, don’t enter there, or you will give birth to a child with fetal-alcohol syndrome." I can imagine her saying, "Please grandchild, don’t light that cigarette. It will damage your health."
Do you realize every time Grandma (or anyone else) takes a conscientious stand, she will find an industry or government department opposing her? Every time she creates a nuisance, the powers-that-be will manipulate and lobby until they convince courts to pass an injunction against her. If she, in conscience, ignores the wishes of industry or government, they might put her in jail.
That grandma exists. Her name is Linda Gibbons. She has been in jail for years, not because she upset the gambling, liquor, or tobacco industries. She earned the antagonism of the abortion industry. It is an industry: governments spend over $50-million of your money annually to procure more than 100,000 abortions.
I haven’t written this to reopen the abortion debate. That issue itself didn’t put Linda in jail; denial of her free speech and right to protest put her behind bars. Linda’s “crime” consisted of standing near abortion clinics speaking one-on-one to pregnant women, explaining that if they consent to give birth they will escape the feelings of guilt that she felt as a young woman following an abortion. She tells women things their doctors might not have told them, about the complications they might experience after an abortion. She spoke only to those women willing to give her the time. Linda Gibbons, who never so much as frowned at a woman contemplating an abortion, let alone blocked her way, has now spent more than seven years in maximum security prisons.
Can you believe that someone in Canada can land in jail because he or she has a burning passion and feels the need to speak about it? Although an extreme case, Linda Gibbons’ story does not stand alone. While hers came about as a so-called criminal action, lobbies and pressure groups can cripple free speech by hauling an offender up before a Human Rights Commission. Those of us who write for publication know that we must not offend certain minority groups for fear we land before a tribunal that has the ability to assess penalties while not following normal court rules.
A panel of three judges will have heard Linda’s current case just days before you read this. She has appealed against the “temporary” injunction of 1994 prohibiting anyone from standing in an arbitrary 60 foot zone around an abortion facility. That must be the longest “temporary” injunction known.
The Canadian constitution says: "Everyone has … freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press … "
Unless you get too passionate.