HATE LAWS: OUT TO GET PRO-LIFERS
By Rev. Ted Pike
15 June 09
Pro-lifers are shocked by recent innuendo from liberal media that
their movement gave moral support to the murderer of abortionist George
Tiller. This accusation comes on the heels of a U.S. Department of
Homeland Security statement that anti-abortionists are potential domestic
terrorists. Government and media increasingly portray the pro-life
movement as engendering bias-motivated acts of violence (hate crimes).
Yet almost no pro-life organizations mention the threat of pending
federal hate crimes bill S. 909!
Opponents of abortion should consider the anti-life censorship in Canada. For
at least 15 years, those who protest killing the unborn have been restricted,
fined - even imprisoned. They are viewed by media and government as hateful
bigots – dangerous cranks in an enlightened society whose socialized
medicine funds murders of unborn babies as routinely as flu vaccinations.
Section 319 of Canada's hate law does not specifically outlaw criticism of
abortion or verbal "intimidation" of abortion staff or women seeking
an abortion. Yet since passage in 1971, the law’s "anti-bias" theme
has turned into an unwritten special protection of the abortion industry. Bill
Whatcott is one Canadian Christian whose personal experience proves it.
Rap Sheet of a Pro-Life "Hate Criminal"
Bill Whatcott is a Canadian evangelical who was working as a nurse
in Ontario in 1991 when he was reminded of the horror of abortion after
encountering a woman recovering from the abortion procedure. Still
under the effects of anesthesia, she repeatedly moaned, "I've
killed my baby!" Filled with concern, Bill responded to an ad
in a pro-life newspaper and became a sidewalk counselor. He visited
clinics, counseling women against abortion, four times a week.
In 1994, the virulently anti-life New Democratic Party (NDP) was ascendant
in Ontario and on attack against pro-lifers. Twenty-one citizens were each
served with a $500,000 lawsuit for illegally counseling women by violating
the 60-foot bubble zone around abortion clinics. Some, including veteran activist
Linda Gibbons, were jailed. Gibbons has been repeatedly arrested for efforts
to save the unborn and remains imprisoned today.
In September 1994, Whatcott strode purposefully into the 60-foot bubble zone
surrounding an abortion clinic. He held an anti-abortion sign on the public
sidewalk. Refusing to leave when the police came, he was arrested. The usual
penalty for such acts of "civil disobedience" (common in the previous
decades of environmental activism) was a $100 fine. But the judge sentenced
him to six months in jail for "obstructing the police." From 1995
to 1999, Whatcott repeatedly violated the bubble zones. Picketing with a poster
of an aborted fetus, he was arrested and jailed "about 20 times" for “exposing
an obscene sign,” “obscene theatrics,” “mischief,” or
allegedly disobeying a court order.
Even outside the zone, Whatcott was once convicted of violating it and sentenced
to 15 days in jail and 18 months probation. Sometimes he only spent two days
in jail although 10 to 15 days was typical.
Moving west to Saskatchewan in 1999, Whatcott was again jailed “6-7 times” (lasting
1-8 days) for protesting abortion on public sidewalks. In Prince Albert, he
passed out 1500 flyers with a picture of a local policeman who arrested pro-lifers.
It said, "Sergeant Schluff is arresting pro-lifers when he should be arresting
abortionists." An all-points bulletin went out and six police cruisers
converged to take him into custody. Convicted and jailed for two days, Whatcott
was banned from Alberta for a year and a half. The Saskatchewan Court of Appeals
finally overturned his $500 conviction after a legal battle costing him $20,000.
In Moosejaw, he distributed 7,000 anti-abortion and anti-sodomite flyers to
3,500 homeowners. Arrested and jailed for eight days, he was again banned for
a year and a half, yet won his appeal.
Pro-Lifer Becomes “Homophobic Hate Criminal”
Whatcott was delivered by Christ from a sordid past as a juvenile
delinquent, drug addict/dealer, and oft-convicted felon. Having committed
many immoral and even homosexual acts, he knew well the depravity of "gay
pride" – the insatiable appetite of many homosexuals for
the bodies of underage boys.
While still in Toronto, he widely distributed the Chick Publication "Doom
Town: The Story of Sodom." This incited a campaign by the Toronto
Star to have him charged as a hate criminal. Leaving the Toronto airport
with his family en route to a new nursing job in Saskatchewan, he narrowly
missed being beaten by the terrorist thugs of "Anti-Racist Action," the
same group that harassed Holocaust reductionist Ernst Zundel and burned his
house down.
In 2002, Whatcott saw an ad in a homosexual newspaper, "Men Seeking Boys." He
made it into a flier with Christ's warning, "If anyone offends one of
these little ones who believe in me, it were better that a millstone were hung
around his neck and he was drowned in the sea."(Matthew 18:6) He distributed
it to 10,000 homes in three cities. Sodomites filed a complaint with the Saskatchewan
Human Rights Tribunal. He was fined $17,500 and ordered to publicly never say
the word “sodomite” or criticize homosexuality again. The case
is under appeal.
During this period, Whatcott also distributed a flyer critical of homosexuality
and the pro-homosexual Premier of Alberta across the campus of the University
of Calgary. Again indicted, he faces another trial this December with possible
appeal and many thousands of dollars of expenses to come.
In 2004 Bill picketed Planned Parenthood, which is not a clinic and
has no "bubble zone." Although ostensibly protected on a
public sidewalk, he was sued by Planned Parenthood. This led to a $15,000
fine by the provincial nursing authority, and his nursing license was
revoked. Fighting back in the appeals court, Whatcott was upheld by
the Saskatchewan Supreme Court and, finally, the Supreme Court of Canada. It
actually ordered the nursing association to compensate Whatcott $10,000
in legal expenses!
If you are fined as little as $5,000 in Canada, the legal cost of defending
yourself averages about $175,000! Whatcott has already lost many tens of thousands
of dollars. He currently owes his lawyers "about $250,000."
To add insult to injury, every defendant to a hate crimes charge must expect
the media will hold him up to the same "hatred and contempt" hate
laws claim to prevent. The public usually sides with the media.
Pro-Lifers Must Take Action!
"Bubble zones" do not just exist in Canada; a bubble zone
of hate law oblivion surrounds most pro-lifers in America. Few comprehend
that S. 909 is their enemy – determined to persecute
and scatter the anti-abortion movement. Every pro-life organization
should sound the following emergency warning:
"You are in imminent danger of being criminalized under the federal hate
crimes bill S. 909, now passed by the U.S. House and awaiting passage in the
Senate. Pro-lifers have been ruthlessly persecuted in Canada under
their federal hate law, and we must do everything possible to keep that from
happening in the U.S.
Call your Senators and especially the 19
members of the Senate Judiciary Committee at 1-877-851-6437 toll free or
1-202-225-3121 toll. Tell them, "Please vote against the
federal hate bill S. 909. Please hold hearings on this dangerous legislation
and don't let it slide through as Sen. Kennedy's amendment. If the Senator
votes for this freedom-stealing, pro-pedophile legislation, I and my pro-life
friends will never forgive or forget!"
Bill Whatcott sends a message to pro-lifers and all Americans: “If you
allow your federal hate bill to pass, in about four years America will be less
free than Canada.”
Call now!!
Let the Anti-Defamation League teach you how they have saddled 45 states with
hate laws capable of persecuting Christians, and spearhead attempts to pass the
federal hate crimes bill: http://www.adl.org/99hatecrime/intro.asp.
TALK SHOW HOSTS: Interview Rev. Ted Pike on this subject.
Call (503) 631-3808.
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