Did Targetting Town for Refusing Anti-Choice Ad Result in Defunding Fake Clinic?

Oh, dear. The town of Hinton, Alberta, is having some troubles.

We reported on the funding of its fake clinic, doing business as West YellowHead Pregnancy Care Centre, back in November 2014.

The Hinton fake clinic was getting dough not only from from the Alberta Lottery Fund, but also from the town's photo radar scam, which turns traffic ticket fees into "community grants."

The fake clinic was doing pretty nicely with annual revenues of over $100K, which is not bad considering the population of Hinton is under 10,000. By contrast, the fake clinic in Medicine Hat, with a population six times that of Hinton, scrapes by on about $60K a year.

HInton's fake clinic has received nearly $40K in the last three years from the photo radar scam.

But not this year. They applied for $17K and were turned down (PDF, page 9) in April.

And Hinton has other troubles. Like several other small centres, it is being sued by the fetal gore porn gang, aka Canadian Centre for Bioethical Reform (CCBR), over its refusal to run said fetal gore on its buses.

Here's a story mainly about Grande Prairie, AB on the stunt.

A pro-life group is suing the City of Grande Prairie because it feels its rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms were violated.

The story mentions that Hinton is also being targetted by CCBR.

"The city's [Grande Prairie] position on this is that we really don't want to take a position. We don't want to be involved in this debate. We don't think it's appropriate for the city to really take a side," said city lawyer Robert McVey*.

Nope. Nothing to do with us. We're completely neutral on the topic.

Well, maybe Grande Prairie can say that but Hinton's record of handing out significant amounts of dough to a fake clinic says otherwise. Maybe that's why the fetal gore gang picked them out?

Let's look at the dates. In January, the town reported that it is reviewing its transit ad policy (PDF, page 2), citing this as the reason.

The Town is currently being challenged by an outside agency that has had their request to advertise on our transit bus, refused by the Town. Having a policy in place will help to avoid being in a similar situation with other groups in the future.

In April, the town declines the fake clinic's request for dough.

Hmmm. Is it trying to distance itself from its own fetus freaks? Trying to position itself -- like Grande Prairie -- as having no, none, nada, zip dog in this race?

Sadly, the fake clinic seemed to be counting on that dough. It is now downsizing.

The West Yellowhead Pregnancy Care Centre in Hinton is going to look a lot different as of next month.

Starting June 15, the facility will only operate as a satellite centre. According to a press release, there will be one volunteer counsellor at the centre which clients can access by appointment only.

The centre is downsizing due to a “significant decrease in funding and change in client numbers” the press release reads.

Boo-hoo.

But consider: did the fetal gore gang's aggressive move have the unintended consequence of forcing the town to distance itself from the fake clinic, and thus cutting off desperately needed funding?

Rather delicious, isn't it?



* Sidebar for those who are interested in arguments around this so-called free speech issue.

In June, LieShite reported on the situation in Grande Prairie.

In court this week, however, the northern Alberta city’s lawyers argued that the ad constituted “hate propaganda.” Stated the city’s brief: “The ad with its graphic images and strong language effectively equates women who have had abortions with murderers. Such a pointed accusation is not only legally incorrect, it exposes such women to hatred.”

Further into the brief, the city goes further, contending the ad was not intended, as CCBR contended, to educate the public about abortion but “was actually designed to promote hatred against an identifiable class.” The city called the CCBR’s position, based on the use of words such as “slaughter” and “evil” on its website, an “extreme religious” viewpoint.

Hate propaganda. Targetting an identifiable group. What we've been saying.

If you agree and haven't yet, please sign the anti-gore e-petition. It needs only 500 signatures to be presented to Parliament and now stands at 3872, but more would be better. We blogged about the petition here.

h/t to Kathy Dawson, (@blueskies366) for critical links. Also eagle eye. :)

PSA: Complain about fetal gore pr0n

In the comments here Alison reports that the Fetal Gore Porn Gang has struck again, this time in Brampton.

And the reaction -- again -- is predictably revulsion and outrage that children are exposed to this crap.

The FGPG don't get it. Fetal porn does not work and simply reeks of desperation.

Joyce Arthur advises:

If you or your family has been victimized by being forced to view CCBR's graphic imagery, please complain to your city council and to police, describing what happened and the resulting harms, and email a copy of your complaints to ARCC. Even if the city or police don't respond or refuse to act, more complaints mean more pressure, and it builds a case for future regulation.

Email is info @ arcc-cdac (dot) ca

New! Improved Whingening Power! Same Great Taste!

Since being disappointed that the 'trailer' being touted wasn't for another cheesy conservative Christian horror film, I became curious as to whether the perpetrators of the 'new' Abortion Caravan, "Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform" (Refoooooormmmm!) had any connections to Margaret Somerville. Bio-ethicist Dr. Somerville is the go-to source for Christian religious anti-choicers propping up the wrongitywrongwrongwrongness of abortion.

Poking at their site, it became apparent that while Dr. Somerville is not obviously linked to this 'bioethical' group, this fresh faced organization is staffed as a lesser satellite of the American (and original) Centre for Bio-ethical Reform (Reeeefoooooormmmm!) The penny bios of the Canadian satellite staff are weighted heavily with young campus veterans from the University of Calgary anti-abortion crusades and other Canadian university venues.  There is a strong inference of Catholic as well as evangelical Protestant support. The bios of the staffers emphasize how they "became convicted", always a dogwhistle for the conservative religious.  The site bluntly equates abortion with SIN and is trolling for religious converts in its encouragements.

I recommend giving the site a good read just to know where a lot of the tactics orginate, although possibly with an alcoholic beverage or five.  I'm preeettty sure there's a drinking game to be had on their 'publications' link page and their 'projects' page maps out what tactics they're using, which are wholecloth franchised from an American mothership.  I had an 'aha' moment when I discovered that I personally ran afoul of their martyred 'Choice Chain' protocol cluttering the sidewalks of all corners of a busy intersection in downtown Calgary during Stampede. These are also the same folks behind the carnage postcards gleefully stuffed into Canadian mailboxes.

I'd like to be a fly on the wall when the mothership project for picketing churches judged lacking 'true Christianity' shows up at a target. Especially if it pits Catholics against Protestants and vice versa.  What about synagogues and mosques as targets? Wiccans?  It's so very Westboro Baptist continium.

Their endorsement links page is also educational, in showing who really really really likes them and why. All Catholic and evangelical anti-abortionist testimonials to the saintliness of the CCBR staff; go figure. My favorite is Jeff Scott: 'Pastor of Young Adults, Singles and Sports, Metropolitan Bible Church'.  Sadly, I don't think he means sports the way I initially read his title.

Their videos page strikes me as the 'new' media generation approach they seem to be hinging the latest campaign on.  A mini-Youtube centre with a slant of martyrdom and fervent effort to wrap themselves in the human rights cloak.  They're all over dramatic music (which part of me finds annoying because I am a fan of the 'incidental music' genre), surgical close-ups out of context, etc. bring slightly better production quality to the Fallacy of Appeal to Emotion.

The darkly ironic thing is, their mothership has an abortion facts page that informs us how minimal abortions are after 9-12 weeks gestation, but that (somewhat outdated) reality impinges not on their stance.  They're aiming for conception as the start and end point.  You have to give them points for honest agenda.

The vids also clearly show the American mothership's presence and origination of the 'edgy young' tactics, going back years, so they're pretty much admitting this isn't new, it's re-packaging by a new marketing firm in an effort to up dismal sales, facts be damned.

Speaking of the mothership, you can tell I toddled over to their site.  I advise you right now, many of the tabs open into a 'horrific' abortion video autostarting...and then looping.  It's pretty much Christian Hellhouse meets out of context medical footage. When and if you wade through that, you find them mostly excusing using bloody pictures because 'Hey, it works for those tragedies we're equating ourselves with so ergo sum, it'll work for us because we've told you we're the same as those'. ...and other apologetics. It was founded by former GOP politician from the Reagan era, Gregg Cunningham, and now hosts the free speech of he and his like minded colleagues. Note the Canadian crossover in staff.

There is another gossipy irony in that, despite their aims, CBR are derided on the 'net by the Army of God's Dan Holman as being too pacifistic in their unwillingness to commit violence and too willing to sue others who don't want to pay copyright on Cunningham's galleries of photos used on all the trucks etc. (the claim is, as unlegimitately sourced as it is, that he paid an abortionist to photograph surgical remains).  I suppose there's a morbid comfort that CBR settles for psychological shock and awe.

PS: Did anyone else know there is an analogue of Facebook called Prolifebook?