OTTAWA—A block from Parliament Hill, Ottawa’s Morgentaler abortion clinic is bracing for harassment of its staff and patients in spite of an Ontario law creating a 50-metre protest-free buffer zone around clinics that takes effect Thursday.

The province’s Safe Access to Abortion Services Act comes into force Feb. 1, almost 30 years to the day after the Supreme Court of Canada acquitted Dr. Henry Morgentaler and struck down the criminal restrictions on abortion services as unconstitutional.

Since that ruling on Jan. 28, 1988, no government has put an abortion prohibition on the books and it is legal to provide abortion services in Canada.

Yet ongoing protests at the Ottawa clinic provided much of the impetus for the provincial law. Protesters here frequently ignored a city bylaw that requires them to keep their distance across the street.

Clinic owner Arlene Leibowitch, who is Morgentaler’s widow, said Ottawa is a focus of tension because it’s the capital and “it’s a political hotbed. They get more attention in Ottawa.”

In Toronto, where the Morgenataler clinic was firebombed in 1992, legal injunctions against individuals were later broadened and created a buffer zone. But Leibowitch said they are costly to apply for and enforce.

In an interview Wednesday, Leibowitch suggested part of the problem here is Ottawa police adopted a passive approach to enforcement of the city bylaw, and suggested they would act only on complaints from staff.

The clinic’s staff believes police have failed to adequately address what they call aggressive protesters, citing incidents where patients and clinic workers have been yelled at or spat on. In one instance, a man entered the building with a large bottle of liquid “holy water” and a rosary. Security video shows him lifting his arms in prayer, kneeling, banging walls and doors, throwing the fluid and screaming at patients and staff, “You murderers.” He was arrested.

The clinic said names of security staff who did file complaints to police in the past have been provided to protesters. It causes unnecessary anxiety and distress for those entering the clinic, said Leibowitch, who fears that things could easily escalate into a situation where someone could get hurt.

With a new provincial law on the books, Leibowitch wants police to proactively enforce the buffer zone and arrest those who breach it, without requiring staff to file complaints.

“It’s beyond belief” that women are still fighting for safe access to abortion services, and having to push past protesters, said Leibowitch. “I really can’t believe that they (protesters) are still doing this.”

Ottawa Police spokesperson Const. Chuck Benoit said in an interview the police intend to be “proactive” and will be present at the clinic’s Bank Street location Thursday, where already there are indications pro- and anti-abortion protesters will show up.

Officers will put in place signs “informing people of the boundaries” and will “advise” people of the rules and “the limits they have to respect,” he said. They intend to issue warnings at first, but Benoit said if a protester comes back a second time “there will be some enforcement that will take place.” He refused to answer whether police will act only on a complaint. “Every investigation progresses differently,” he said.

Cyril Winter, a man who says he has protested for more than four years outside the Ottawa clinic, posted on his Facebook page encouragement to others to join him, and suggested ways to get around the buffer’s limitations.

“Silent prayer without observing the clinic directly is not prohibited, therefore anyone may be within the bubble zone praying without looking at the clinic in a continuous manner. . . . One can simply look away while praying. NO SIGNS; NO PUBLIC SPEECH; ONLY QUIET, PRIVATE TALK. ONE MUST BE DISCREET. GBY ALL. Cy.”

Asked what duty the police owe to protect the free speech and religious rights of the protesters, Leibowitch said the law strikes the balance already; “They can maintain their beliefs and their religious rights; they just don’t have to do it right in front of the clinic.”

Const. Benoit declined to say whether protesters are setting up a clash pitting their own Charter rights against the provincial law.

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“We are aware that there are differences of opinions on both sides but we also have a law that we have to enforce,” said Benoit. “We don’t have an opinion about the rights and wrongs of people; the only right that we have to abide by is the law that is given us.”

The provincial law automatically establishes a minimum 50-metre protest-free buffer zones around abortion clinics, the homes of doctors and staff, and even pharmacies and offices that provide pills used to terminate pregnancy.

The zones may be expanded up to 150 metres upon application by a clinic abortion services provider. Within the boundaries of the buffer, protesters will no longer be able to approach, harass, dissuade or provide graphic pamphlets about abortion services; carry out abortion-related protests or activities that intimidate or physically interfere with individuals accessing or providing abortion services.

Penalties could include fines of $5,000 and six months in jail for a first offence, and up to $10,000 and a year in jail for subsequent ones.