Linda Gibbons acquitted after court finds insufficient evidence
By Nathan Rumohr
The B.C. Catholic
Linda Gibbons, a grandmother, at one of her many arrests, this one in 2008, for silently protesting outside abortion clinics in downtown Toronto. Gibbons was released Friday after an arrest Dec. 16. Sheila Dabu / The Catholic Register.
One of Canada’s most indefatigable anti-abortion protesters has been released from prison. Supporters greeted Linda Gibbons outside a Toronto courtroom after judge William R. Wolski of the Ontario Court of Justice ruled there was insufficient evidence to prove Gibbons created a nuisance outside a Mogentaler clinic Dec. 16 in Toronto.

“We (pro-life activists) are there because we want to defend the babies and (we) love and care for women who are wounded by abortion,” Gibbons told LifeSiteNews while enjoying a Tim Horton’s coffee with friends after her release.

Gibbons was arrested for breaking an 18-year-old temporary civil injunction that forbids protestors from gathering within 150 metres of an abortion clinic in the city of Toronto. She has been arrested for the civil order multiple times. Because of this, Gibbons has spent almost a decade in jail.

With each charge Gibbons has been given the opportunity to avoid jail time by signing a pledge not to protest. But the 63-year-old grandmother and devout Christian refuses on principle.

Last December she told Postmedia News that she wants to see the temporary injunctions brought down because she believes they hinder freedom.

Gibbons release comes after the Supreme Court of Canada ruled against her appeal in another case last June that her protesting charges should be conducted under civil law, which the temporary injunction falls under.

Her legal team argued the then charges under a court order are unconstitutional.

While behind bars for the last seven months, Gibbons persuaded a pregnant prisoner to consult with a crisis pregnancy centre instead of having an abortion. She also evangelized her cellmate.

Gibbons is committed to fighting for the unborn even though she will likely end up back in jail.

“I’ve been in prison [on and off] for 10 years and I’m willing to spend another 10 years behind bars,” she said after she found out the Supreme Court had ruled against her.

“I have a moral responsibility not to obey an unjust law.”

nrumohr@rcav.org