By Deborah Gyapong
Canadian Catholic News
OTTAWA
Protesters from the Defund Abortion rally picket outside Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty's office in Ottawa South. Deborah Gyapong / CCN.
At the 44 Defund Abortion mini-rallies outside provincial riding offices across Ontario Oct. 13, demonstrators urged Ontario politicians to redirect money from abortion to real health care needs.

“It is illogical to have a healthcare system that is cash-starved and yet, continues to allocate scarce dollars towards the killing of children,” Campaign Life Coalition lobbyist Johanne Brownrigg told 55 to 75 people outside Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty’ s office.

Delisting abortion from OHIP, Ontario’s health insurance plan, would save taxpayers from $30 to 50 million, she said.

That money could be redirected to hire more than 200 family doctors to address Ontario’s doctor shortage; hire 400 nurses to cut hospital wait times; treat 500 additional autistic children; buy 20 new MRI machines every year; or make palliative care available in communities that lack it now, Brownrigg said.

She noted the Ottawa Hospital had cut 90 registered nurses and closed 28 beds; that 2,000 autistic children remain on waiting lists for treatment; and physician fee cuts could hurt access to the health care system.
Campaign Life Coalition lobbyist Johanne Brownrigg protests outside Dalton McGuinty's office. Deborah Gyapong.
“Let’s be clear about this elective procedure,” she said. “It is disingenuous to claim that abortion is necessary for a woman’s health.”

The Dublin Declaration made after a Sept. symposium gathered 140 obstetricians and other Irish medical professional said: “As experienced practitioners and researchers in obstetrics and gynaecology, we affirm that direct abortion is not medically necessary to save the life of a woman,” Brownrigg told the crowd.

A 2011 Abacus poll revealed 91 per cent of respondents did not know Ontario spends $30 to $50 million on abortion, she said. “The more Ontarians know the figures, the less they want to see this waste on an elective procedure.”

McGuinty’ s office seemed closed, with the blinds drawn, but news media from television, print and radio covered the rally.

In an interview, Brownrigg said momentum is growing after MP Stephen Woodworth’s Motion 312 revealed “the ugliness of the pro-abortion position” and the unwillingness to even talk about the humanity of the unborn.

Unregulated abortion and the underlying lack of humanity attributed to the unborn are spilling over into the “horrifying prospect” of infanticide being treated the same way in the courts, she warned.

McGuinty’ s office seemed closed, the blinds down, but news media from television, print and radio gave the rally lots of coverage.

Some demonstrators, such as Tom Rooney, said they were incensed by Ontario Education Minister Laurel Broten’s recent remarks that the pro-abortion position could not be taught in Catholic Schools.
More than 50 people were part of the Defund Abortion rally outside Premier Dalton McGuinty's office in Ottawa South. Deborah Gyapong / CCN.
“I resent my tax dollars going to pay for abortion because I’m a father, a grandfather and a great grandfather,” said Frank Barrett, who added there are many ways to help women with unwanted pregnancies that do not involve killing the unborn child.

Anne Dareys called the funding of abortion unjust. “Our whole society getting old,” she said. “We need young people to replace them to be able to support our social programs.”

Her husband Bruno Dareys said women lack information on the health and psychological impact of abortion on the mother. We only know it is a choice, but we know more about second hand smoke than about abortion’s effects, he said.

Their eldest daughter Rosemary made her own sign to bring to the rally.

The mini-rallies were organized by Campaign Life Coalition’s youth organizer Allisa Golob, who estimated from 2500 to 3,000 people took part in 44 mini-rallies.

“The majority of organizers were young people, however there were others who stepped up in their communities despite their full-time jobs and taking care of their children and so on,” she said in an email.

Campaign Life is organizing a bigger Defund Abortion Rally for Tuesday Oct. 30 from 12 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. at Queen’s Park, she said.