Canadian pro-choice actions planned

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Women from all over English Canada and Quebec traveled to Ottawa for a binational conference of the Pro Choice Action Network (PCAN) on the weekend of Aug. 1112. The breadth of participation marked the considerable growth of PCAN since it was formed by groups from four cities in 1988.

Although the Ontario Coalition for Abortion Clinics (OCAC) started in 1982, most of the groups represented at the PCAN conference began in the last year or two. Many grew out of efforts to build participation in last fall's cross-country day of pro-choice actions. A new student-based group was formed only eight weeks before the conference in Kitchener-Waterloo.

While agreeing that their main focus is opposing the government's attack on abortion rights, conference participants also noted that the House's passage of a law recriminalizing abortion has emboldened rightwing groups. Conference participants agreed NEW YORK-Anti-choice forces are still hard at it in the New York City area. "Prayer vigils for the unborn," organized by the Catholic Church but attended by a range of right-wingers, are being held once a month outside women's health clinics.

Ostensibly non-militant, these rallies have been effective in forcing at least one clinic to reschedule its patients' appointments, and the "sidewalk counsellors" are still there to harass and disinform women who try to use the clinic's resources.

Though they are organized by Monsignor Reilly and Bishop Daily of the Brooklyn diocese, these vigil-attacks move from parish to parish throughout the city, trying to give the impression of mass opposition to women's right to choose.

These vigils do not officially blockade clinics. After a service at a neighborhood church, the participants walk to the clinic door, where they sing hymns and pray for a couple of hours before dispersing to abuse patients at various other clinics in the area. They even announce their targets in advance. But they remain a dangerously effective force in the battle against accessible abortion.

Both the National Organization for Women (NOW) and the Women's Health Action and Mobilization (WHAM) have been well-organized in providing escorts for patients during these and other attacks in New York, and both groups give out information about upcoming anti-choice rallies. But too few people, besides the escorts themselves, are being organized to show up to defend the clinics.

One "prayer vigil" in July had over 200 people, and less than 50 people were there to challenge them-mainly from WHAM, which has better success at getting its supon the need to visibly mobilize to defend clinics from these thugs.

They also discussed the need to counter new tactics the anti-choice goons devise. For example, a recent Operation Rescue hit in Toronto successfully blockaded a clinic for some time before police arrested 25 of the bigots. OCAC had no advance notice of this hit, which was staged at 2:30 on a Saturday afternoon. By the time the clinic director realized they had been targeted, it was too late to prepare an adequate physical defense.

In small towns, anti-choice goons have taken to harassing individual doctors-staging picketlines outside their homes and threatening them with lawsuits. This, coupled with the threat of criminal prosecution under the new law, has caused many smalltown doctors to announce they will no longer perform abortions-further restricting access.

The new law has encouraged an upswing of activity by the religious right. Such prominent U.S. misogynists as Jerry Falwell and Joseph Scheidler well-publicized appearances.

Organizing the fightback

Although the Canadian Senate, which is expected to vote on the law sometime this fall, generally rubber stamps House-passed legislation, conference participants agreed it is important not to concede passage of this law. They will continue to push for its defeat.

Protests are planned for the day of the Senate vote. If it is signed into law, they will pressure the Justice Minister not to implement it. (She has already promised not to proclaim it immediately because of her concerns over possible additional restrictions on access.)

If the law passes, a province-by-province attack on abortion rights is likely. PCAN is prepared to launch a national educational campaign to explain that restrictions in one province are a danger to women in all provinces since they will serve as a model for similar restrictions elsewhere. PCAN will mobilize support throughout English Canada and Quebec to oppose any provincial restrictions.

The conference voted to work with the Canadian Abortion Rights Action League and the National Action Committee on the Status of Women to. build an Oct. 13 Day of Action in cities and towns binationally. The demands are "No New Abortion Law" and "Full Access to Free Abortion." Possible future activities include a major speaking tour for Dr. Henry Morgenthaler and a crosscountry abortion caravan modelled after the 1970 one.

Provincial PCAN conferences are planned in British Columbia, Ontario, and Saskatchewan. Conference participants were optimistic about drawing more people into visible defense of abortion rights and building new PCAN affiliates in other cities and towns throughout English Canada and Quebec. Support has been particularly strong on college campuses.