A private member's bill from a group of local NDP members of the Ontario Legislature looks at adding restrictions to anti-abortion flyers and signs that have been found in some mailboxes across the city.
London North Centre MPP Terence Kernaghan said the bill, dubbed the Viewer Discretion Act, was introduced at Queen's Park on Monday. If passed, it will require images of aborted fetuses to be concealed in an envelope indicating what the content is and who it was sent from. London West's Peggy Sattler and London Fanshawe's Teresa Armstrong also agreed to co-sponsor the bill.
"We've heard from countless Londoners who have found these images traumatizing and unwelcome in our community," Kernaghan said.
Local mom Sarah Grossi joined the virtual press conference Monday morning and described how her family has been impacted after being exposed to the images while driving.
"The graphic violence of those images are forever seared into my son's memory and nothing I can do can erase that trauma," Grossi said. "Every time he eats ketchup, every time he goes to sleep, I cannot stop those violent pictures from intruding on his thoughts and protect him from the damage that they have caused."
Kernaghan noted that the organizations will still be free to distribute their materials and share their beliefs, but thinks the opportunity for a warning is necessary.
Last fall, a group called the Viewer Discretion Legislation Coalition formed and began to call on politicians to help protect people from seeing the potentially triggering images. When asked about what could be done about the posters displayed at the city's major intersections, coalition co-founder Katie Dean explained they are waiting to hear back from the federal government about a petition put forward by London-Fanshawe MP Lindsay Mathyssen last week.
https://twitter.com/kernaghant/status/1368975306455973891
