Anti-abortion protesters return to Calgary campus
Last Updated: Wednesday, March 25, 2009 | 3:15 PM MT
CBC News
An anti-abortion group whose members are already charged with trespassing returned to the University of Calgary with a controversial display.
Campus security officers have warned that members of Campus Pro-Life could face more trespassing charges, but that doesn't worry Leah Hallman, one of six people who has pleaded not guilty to trespassing charges stemming for setting up the display in November.
"If we view that our actions are just actions and that what we are doing is not wrong, then we should continue to conduct ourselves in the manner that we always have," Hallman said on Wednesday.
The graphic display, set up outside McEwan Hall Wednesday and Thursday, compares abortion to the Holocaust, the Ku Klux Klan and the genocide in Rwanda.
Brit Aberle, who held a pro-choice sign across from the anti-abortion display on Wednesday, said members of Campus Pro-Life have the right to voice their opinion but the way they do it crosses a line.
"They use really graphic images and appropriate the struggles of Jewish folks and the Rawandan genocide. I have talked to many Jewish and Rawandan people and they don't want their histories being used for this."
Last year, university administrators asked the group, which has about 30 members, to make the posters less visible, citing safety concerns.
When the students refused to comply, the school issued a letter threatening legal action. The letter warned that the university would consider the students to be trespassing and that they would be subject to arrest, fines, suspension or expulsion.
Share Tools
Latest Calgary News Headlines
- Alberta radar running again after breakdown
- Predicting severe weather patterns is still presenting a challenge for local weather watchers after four Environment Canada Doppler radars stopped working properly this week. more »
- Inquiry rules on death of troubled Alberta teen
- A fatality inquiry into the death of a mentally troubled Alberta teenager is recommending hospitals tighten rules on all outings for psychiatric patients. more »
- Alberta readies 60 new ambulances for service
- Around 60 new ambulances will soon be whizzing across the province thanks to a large purchase by Alberta Health Services. more »
- Suspicious death in S.E. investigated
- A man was found dead in southeast Calgary early Friday morning in what police are calling suspicious circumstances. more »
Top News Headlines
- Aylmer triple stabbing leads to first-degree murder charges

- The estranged partner of a young mother who was stabbed to death along with her parents at their home in Aylmer, Que., has been charged with first-degree murder Friday. more »
- Severe storm in Quebec leaves damage in its wake
- Trees were uprooted, roofs damaged and windows shattered as severe thunderstorms, and possibly a tornado, rattled through southwestern Quebec Friday night. more »
- The risks and responsibilities of taking on Mt. Everest

- The deaths of five climbers last weekend on Mt. Everest, with more summits underway this weekend, fuels the debate about the risks and responsibilities of high altitude climbing. more »
- Ex-Mubarak PM vows not to recreate old regime
- The last prime minister of ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is denying claims that he's trying to recreate the old regime. more »
- Former MLA questions need for Alberta Party
- Inquiry rules on death of troubled Alberta teen
- Alberta radar running again after breakdown
- Police couldn’t stop double fatal crash, judge says
- Alberta readies 60 new ambulances for service
- Suspicious death in S.E. investigated
- TEDxYYC brings passionate speakers to Calgary today
- Calgary woman who killed mother gets 5 years
- Beltline attack leaves man critically injured

