| Image Source: Wonkette |
10,000 of these flyers were sent to Winnipeg through Canada Post mail delivery. Deceptively labelled "important election information", at least one Winnipegger opened it up - expecting information on where to vote - only to be taken aback by the disgusting shock value of the flyer photos.
But mass mailings weren't the only way these sicko flyers were distributed throughout our great city.A local group strongly opposed to reproductive choice, Winnipeg Against Abortion, decided to hand deliver 6,000 flyers to homes across the Winnipeg South Centre riding. This riding was one where the Conservative candidate, Joyce Bateman, very narrowly won over her nearest competitor and the flyers were in response to Federal Liberal leader Justin Trudeau's new party line on reproductive choice.
| Liberal Party of Canada's new stance on abortion, laid out by Federal NDP Associate Media Director Marc-Andre Viau. Image Source: Twitter/Marc-Andre Viau |
The Third Party Leader declaring that new Liberal MPs could not be forced birth advocates apparently drove these wingnuts more insane. The fact that this leaves many Liberal MPs, including Winnipeg North's Kevin Lamoureux, free to vote and advocate for anti-choice laws was a nuance that appears to be beyond the grasp of the mass mailers.
Cara Ginter, of the anti-choice group Winnipeg Against Abortion, had some comical rationales for the shock mail:
"We're just volunteers that, you know, we support the project," said Cara Ginter of Winnipeg Against Abortion."As long as people are getting the messages, as long as people are seeing the images and learning the truth, I really don't care who thinks put it on."
("Anti-abortion flyers mailed to Winnipeg homes shock some". CBC News. August 5, 2015)
The thinking here is that people will see these pictures, be shocked at how disgusting they are and thereby conclude the truth of the matter is that abortion is bad. Unfortunately for Ginter, most Canadians are smarter than that. Most Canadians believe that just because something looks shocking doesn't mean it should be illegal. A "bioethical reform" group sending out gross pictures of open heart surgery would fail to convince the public to ban it.
This is not the first time Cara Ginter has engaged in shock antics to push a forced birth agenda, however. Back in 2013 she was a University of Manitoba student with the U of M Students for a Culture of Life - a group that put up placards comparing abortion to the holocaust.
These signs were, of course, designed by the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform (CCBR) mentioned at the start of this post. The CCBR is a group with a well known history of using shock antics against reproductive choice on Canadian campuses. These tactics frequently amount to implicitly comparing women getting abortions to Nazis. The CCBR has even stooped to having graphic displays outside of high schools.
Regardless of whether these sicko wingnut tactics work on teens for adults they're backfiring. Conservative voting Winnipegger Dorian Fontaine was disgusted by graphic images sent to him in an envelop that looked like it would have voter information in it. Furthermore, it failed to convince him that he has to right to dictate over women's bodies.
Winnipeggers are much wiser than this bullshit.
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