BREAKING: Abortion clinic loses fight to silence LifeSite, but plans emergency appeal

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TORONTO, June 9, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) — LifeSiteNews won a
victory in court today by successfully opposing a publication
ban on the identities of abortionists targeting a pro-life
activist.

But the legal battle continues as the Crown in Ontario has
signalled it will launch an emergency appeal to quash the ruling.

The Crown is seeking a publication ban in the trial of pro-life
activist Mary Wagner at the request of an abortion facility.
Wagner is charged with one count of mischief and seven of breach
of probation after allegedly entering a Toronto abortion
facility in December as part of her efforts to save babies from
abortion.

After Judge Rick Libman ruled on the publication ban, Crown
counsel Craig Power moved to adjourn Wagner’s trial until
Tuesday to consider whether he will seek an emergency appeal to
overturn the decision.

Wagner, meanwhile, walked free today after LifeSiteNews’ lawyer,
Phil Horgan, asked the judge to release her on her own
recognizance until her trial resumes June 13.

Crown counsel Power agreed Wagner could be released with no
conditions except that she return for court on that date.

Wagner refuses to sign bail conditions that require her to stay
away from abortion facilities.

She had been in jail since her arrest December 12, 2016 at the
Bloor West Village Women’s Clinic, where she had tried to save
women and children from the violence of abortion.

The west Toronto abortion facility is in the fourth floor of an
office complex at 2425 Bloor Street West, and is co-owned and
operated by abortionists Ninia Lupovici and Heather Culbert, who
is the current president of Doctors Without Borders Canada.

The Crown asked for a media ban on the names of three people
from the abortion facility, Culbert and two employees, whom it
would be calling as witnesses during the trial.

It also asked for a ban on the abortion facility’s surveillance
video it would be introducing as evidence.

Libman ruled that the names of the two employees should not be
published because they were first time witnesses and their names
had not hitherto been published.

But he said Culbert’s name could be published as LifeSiteNews
had already reported it previously.

Moreover, Libman ruled the video surveillance could be published
if the faces of all individuals but Wagner and Culbert were
pixelated.

Culbert submitted an affidavit stating that with publication of
her name, "It is the unknown violent activists that I fear."

But this “admission of the unknown is also an admission of lack
of evidence,” Horgan argued.

Given the tradition of the open court principle, “there needs to
be robust, cogent evidence” that such a ban is warranted,
otherwise the proper administration of justice is at risk, he
told the Court.

He quoted 19th century British jurist Jeremy Benthem: “Where
there is no publicity, there is no justice. Publicity is the
soul of justice... It keeps the judge himself while trying,
under trial.”

Horgan noted the Crown was requesting the publication ban on
behalf of a “private business. That in itself is newsworthy.”

Indeed, he suggested the abortion facility was seeking to
suppress the video evidence because its publication would be
“bad for business.”

Its publication would also be “bad for fundraising efforts of
Médecins Sans Frontières, of which Dr. Culbert is currently
president,” added Horgan, who was denied a copy of the video
when he requested one from the Crown.

A LifeSiteNews affidavit related that Wagner said the video
shows abortion center staff trying to drag her out of the
abortion facility.

The abortionist “didn’t wait for a police officer to make an
arrest,” Horgan told the Court. “On this occasion, Dr. Culbert
took matters into her own hands.”

Indeed, Wagner told LifeSiteNews in a June 5 phone call from
Vanier jail that Culbert pushed her at least two times, after
which she sat on the floor.

Culbert then attempted to drag her out of the abortion center by
her right leg, Wagner said.

Indeed, the abortionist pulled her leg with such force that
Wagner, who at this point had braced her left leg against the
door jamb so she could continue to talk to the women in the
waiting room, had to “twist my body because of the pain” and was
thus successfully removed from the abortion center, Wagner told
LifeSiteNews.

Crown counsel Power argued that Culbert “does not want to be an
advocate for abortion” and “takes steps to hide her identity,”
whereas for Wagner, “publicity is a key factor.”

“The form her activism takes requires unwilling participant to
come to court to testify,” Power said. “In this case naming the
witnesses would in effect shame them.”

Moreover, “this could dissuade other doctors from providing
these services if they get the notoriety they don’t want.”

But Horgan refuted that.

“When Mary Wagner spoke, she spoke about saving babies. She
seeks to counsel women,” he told the Court. “The publicity is
tangential to that effect.”

Horgan also hinted at the wider political context in which the
Crown is prosecuting Wagner.

A 1994 injunction brought by Bob Rae’s NDP government
restricting pro-life activity outside several Toronto abortion
facilities was voided in January, under new regulations intended
to to clear out temporary court orders that have not been
pursued in court.

Liberal Attorney General Yasir Naqvi announced last week he’ll
be introducing “bubble zone” legislation to restrict pro-life
activity outside abortion centres in the fall.

The political nature of the hearing was underscored by the
presence of a crown attorney observing the proceedings from the
visitors gallery.

The adjournment of Wagner’s trial until Tuesday prevented the
delivery of the video in court on Friday.

Wagner’s trial is scheduled to resume 10:00 a.m. at Old City
Hall Court, Room 112 on June 13, which, as one of the some 30
supporters present at Friday’s hearing noted, is observed by
Catholics as the 100th anniversary of the second apparition of
the Virgin Mary at Fatima.

Wagner, who hails from B.C., has served almost five years in
jail for her peaceful efforts to save women and unborn children
from the violence of abortion.

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/breaking-abortion-clinic-loses-
fight-to-silence-lifesite-but-plans-emergenc