We Need a Law hosted a couple of pro-life flag displays over the Canada Day long weekend. One of them was in Ponoka, Alberta, and it involved a bit of controversy. As organizers were setting the display, crews from the town came along and removed a banner they had hung on a fence adjacent to the major highway that runs through the community. When organizers confronted the city workers over the action, they were told that the Town Hall had received complaints about the event. Once the city crews were shown the permits and paperwork which proved that the display was legally allowed, they put the banner back up.

We Need a Law’s Mike Schouten says this kind of attempt at censorship is becoming all too common. “People are looking to the state to just shut us up and the state thinks they can do that. They think they have the authority to do that, even when local groups have (all) the property permits in place; the insurance policies, etc.”

Beyond attempted state censorship, Schouten says there’s another common thread starting to emerge in the opposition they’re seeing at the flag displays. “Some of the most vocal opponents of what we’re doing are middle-to-later-aged men, like in the 40-to-60 year old range.” He says that may seem a bit surprising, but there may be a reason for that. “I think part of the reason (for that opposition) is because with abortion being completely legal at any stage for any reason… that actually makes it quite easy for men – when they find themselves in a relationship whereby a child is conceived – it’s just an easy solution for them (to) drive the woman to the abortion clinic, help make the appointments, and the ‘problem’ essentially goes away for them.”

There are plans for almost a dozen more flag displays in various communities throughout the country over the balance of the summer.