“They failed,” abortion rights advocate scolds London council for handling of graphic images bylaw

Meeting of London City Council on Tuesday June 23, 2024 (Daryl Newcombe/CTV News London)

London City Council has scrapped plans for a bylaw limiting the display of graphic images in public spaces.

The proposed bylaw would have put limits on the size of signs and where signs could be displayed on public property.

It appeared to be heading to community consultation but was abruptly dropped by city council on Tuesday night. John Bulsza is hailing it as a victory, "The battle continues. This is of national importance, not just London."

Bulsza is among the anti-abortion demonstrators who converge once a month at Wellington Road and Commissioners Road East, in front of the London Health Sciences Centre Victoria Campus.

The sign bylaw discussion stemmed from the graphic images on their signs and at other locations throughout the city.

Some include images of what demonstrators claim are aborted fetuses. Bulsza say those images reinforce their message, "These images are large because it's visible from a longer distance. The small signs just don't get the message across from a longer distance. No matter whether it’s a union, or whether you are demonstrating for Palestine or Israel or whatever -- the signs have to make the message clear."

Ward 13 Councillor David Ferreira was among those who argued during the council meeting that the bylaw had become too broad, and was unlikely to withstand a constitutional test - telling those gathered, "When you have no content, in my opinion, is synonymous with all content."

"They were they were actually tasked to create a bylaw that would address specifically graphic anti-abortion imagery,” Deanna Ronson told CTV News. “And they failed in that. It was overbroad."

Ronson is a board member with the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada. She says the graphic images are traumatizing for many people.

She said the shift from a bylaw that focused on graphic anti-abortion displays to a more broad-based sign legislation was always a concern.

She pointed to a two-year-old London bylaw restricting the distribution of graphic literature, noting that that bylaw has gone untested in the courts. She believes it provided a template for the city, "It has not been challenged. It has not been legally challenged since it was passed. So what does that say to you?"

Bulsza says his organization and others were prepared to legally test any bylaw that would restrict where and how they protest, "I had my plans as well, that if this bylaw were to come into effect I would seriously consider doing some action that would go counter to this particular bylaw."

Ronson doesn't expect another attempt at a graphic sign bylaw during the current sitting council. She remains adamant that people need to be protected from emotionally disturbing images, adding, "As for as these people claiming that this is a freedom of speech matter, freedom of speech is not absolute in Canada."