Anti-abortion and abortion-rights advocates went head-to-head in downtown Fredericton on Thursday, just days before the end of the spring sitting in the legislature.
Anti-abortion groups have been rallying on the lawn of the legislature for 15 years. They say their message is especially important this year, with the impending closure of the Morgentaler Clinic and a provincial election four months away.
Marie Claire Muzzerall-Gautreau was among those spreading an anti-abortion message outside the legislature.
She says she became pregnant at 15 and many people advised her to terminate her pregnancy. However, she decided to have the baby and is now a mother to a young son.
She says she plans to attend similar rallies in the next few months.
“I’m sure there are a lot more that are not stepping out because, like I said, this is the first year I’m stepping out and I never really knew of this (rally),” says Muzzerall-Gautreau.
Politicians also spoke about the issue outside the legislature, including Liberal MLA Bill Fraser. He says his party leader’s calls for a review of abortion laws don’t conflict with his personal view that abortion is wrong.
“Our leader is not imposing his personal view on me or anybody else in our caucus,” says Fraser. “He respects my beliefs and the beliefs of our other caucus members.”
Earlier this week, the Liberals asked Ottawa to intervene to determine whether New Brunswick's regulations governing access to abortions violate the Canada Health Act.
The Progressive Conservatives say they continue to support the current policy of funding abortions deemed medically necessary.
“Progressive Conservatives in this province as the only ones that will maintain this position and have maintained it as it has been by five successive governments in this province,” says Tory MLA Jody Carr.
A block away, New Brunswick NDP Leader Dominic Cardy stood with abortion-rights advocates outside the Morgentaler Clinic.
“It’s a complicated moral issue, let’s talk about that afterwards, but today let’s enforce the federal law,” says Cardy. “We’ve been breaking it for 25 years. It’s an embarrassment for New Brunswick.”
“What we’re hoping today is to show our love for the clinic,” says abortion-rights advocator Kathleen Pye. “We’re all here to support reproductive rights. We’re here to support the fact the clinic has been able to do that for so long when the province basically denied us.”
More than 500 demonstrators left the lawn of the legislature to march towards the Morgentaler Clinic, where both sides met in silence.
People on both sides of the debate expect it could become a contentious election issue ahead of the provincial election.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Nick Moore
