TORONTO (LifeSiteNews) — Veteran pro-lifer Linda Gibbons has been arrested again this morning after deliberately skipping a court hearing related to her activism, choosing to witness in front of an abortion clinic instead.
This morning, 75-year-old Christian grandmother Linda Gibbons was arrested after she skipped her court hearing scheduled for 10:00 a.m., opting instead to witness to the unborn outside the Toronto-based Morgentaler abortion clinic.
“She is in a police cruiser,” Gibbons’ close friend, John Bulsza, told LifeSiteNews.
According to Bulza, Gibbons was arrested at 10:00 a.m., shortly after she arrived at the clinic to witness to the unborn.
The veteran pro-lifer appears fearless in her ministry even at the risk of being held in contempt of court and the possibility of a prison sentence.
Already, at a previous hearing, Gibbons refused to answer the judge’s questions, instead witnessing to the silence of the babies killed every day in Canada by abortion. This resulted in the judge suggesting she be sent to a mental health court.
“The judge wanted to refer Linda to the Mental Health Court, which is designed to deal with accused persons who are experiencing mental health difficulties,” Campaign Life Coaltion’s Pete Baklinski wrote on X about Gibbons’ previous courtroom silence. “But the Crown convinced the judge not to.”
“Linda, of course, is not mentally ill,” Baklinski clarified, explaining that Gibbons is “choosing to be like Christ, who was also silent when facing oppression and affliction, like a lamb which is silent when led to the slaughter (Isaiah 53:7).”
The clinic, located in an office complex on 727 Hillsdale Avenue in Toronto’s upscale Leaside neighborhood, is one of many started by or named after Canada’s most notorious abortionist, Henry Morgentaler.
Before this morning, her most recent arrest took place on June 13, which was her third arrest in just three weeks.
Gibbon’s ministry is now considered criminal in Canada thanks to Ontario’s Safe Access to Abortion Services Act which was put into effect on February 1, 2018, and was passed the previous year by then-Premier Kathleen Wynne’s Liberal government.
The law bans any pro-life activity, including praying, sidewalk counseling, and showing “disapproval” of abortion, within 50 meters of Ontario’s eight abortion facilities.
While the law was implemented by Liberals, the long-reigning Progressive Conservative of Doug Ford has never challenged the law.
Prior to her recent string of arrests starting in May, Gibbons was last arrested in September of 2015 after conducting a similar silent protest in front of the same Morgentaler clinic.
After spending some 141 days in jail, an Ontario judge in 2016 convicted her of breaking a 1999 civil injunction that bans pro-life activities within 500 feet of Toronto’s Morgentaler abortion facility. This injunction was later superseded by Ontario’s Safe Access to Abortion Services Act.
In total, Gibbons’ pro-life activism has resulted in her spending almost 11 years in jail for her peaceful witness to mothers and unborn children.