Downtown sculpture garden funded by Right to Life contested by pro-choice residents
A local pro-life group has donated $91,000 for a memorial garden located within the grounds of Basilica of Our Lady Immaculate. Guelph & Area Right to Life, founded in 1974, is a “non-denominational human rights organization,” according to their website. In the works for over two years, Right to Life has been planning the construction of the Garden of Grace; a place to remember, in their eyes, children lost to abortion and miscarriage.
Jakki Jeffs, the garden’s founder, told GuelphToday.com that the garden would be a place for parents to grieve, “where they could recognize their little one and reflect on the decision they made.”
The memorial has not been without controversy. Many individuals who consider themselves pro-choice have taken issue with the garden’s name, intent, and implications.
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In response to the proposed garden, of which construction has already begun, Guelph residents Sara Bortolon-Vettor and Carly Hunt took to Facebook to organize a peaceful protest.
The event page, called “Rally: Right to Life memorial at Our Lady,” attracted over 250 individuals and was shared with over 1000 users. The event asked that concerned individuals meet in front of the grounds of Basilica of Our Lady on Fri, Oct. 7 for a peaceful protest.
Some 100 Guelph residents, students, and out-of-towners joined the rally during its two-hour planned run. Some bearing homemade signs, some carrying supplies to make signs, others still with dogs.
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Co-organizers Bortolon-Vettor and Hunt were present well before the rally started, equipped with signs and resolute expressions. For believers in a person’s reproductive autonomy, the number one concern is that the proposed garden “is condemning those who have had abortions and condemning those who are pro-choice,” said Bortolon-Vettor. “We are in no way in opposition to a monument for lost miscarriages.”
The problem, both organizers agreed, is that, “Right to Life is anti-abortion.” The group is “making an assumption of a population of women that they are grieving after their abortions,” Bortolon-Vettor continued. This assumption is personal to Bortolon-Vettor. “I made a sign—this is personal to me. I had an abortion and I didn’t grieve. I was relieved.”
The money was a contentious issue for both sides as well. “$91,000 dollars,” emphasized Bortolon-Vettor.
“That could have gone to children who go to school without breakfast in the morning,” added Hunt.
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Cameron (last name withheld), a student at the University of Guelph who identifies as pro-life, countered at the rally, “$91,000 is a lot of money, but how much do they spend on support groups, on humanitarian efforts? People haven’t seen where they put the rest of their money.”
Bortolon-Vettor also spoke of the the agreement struck between the Basilica and Right to Life. The funding was entirely amassed through donations by supporters of Right to Life, but Our Lady Immaculate approved construction of the garden on its property.
Other attendees echoed these sentiments. Sonali Menezes, a graduate of the University of Guelph’s fine/studio art program, heard of the garden and the accompanying rally through Facebook as well. To Menezes, the rally demonstrates, “Dissent with the building of this garden.” She continued, “I don’t think it should be built. That ground has been broken without the consent of community members.”
Menezes highlighted that there are complications to the garden being constructed, “I think that churches, especially Our Lady of Immaculate, straddle this line between public and private. It’s in the centre of Guelph, there have been laws in place for hundreds of years that prevented buildings from being built taller than the church.”
In Menezes’s opinion, the garden also reflects poorly on the city of Guelph, “I think that this is shameful for the city of Guelph. I think it marks our city as allowing oppressive viewpoints and oppressive structures, and as one that allows for the shaming of people with uteruses.”
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Many protesters questioned the ability of a church, in this day and age, given the laws of Canada regarding reproductive rights, to make a statement such as the one implied by the garden’s construction. “Namely that abortion is shameful,” said one protester, who wished to remain anonymous. “Pro-choice individuals argue that abortion is neither shameful nor something to be proud of, it’s not a good or bad thing. It exists, for me at least, outside of morality because it isn’t an issue of right or wrong. It is merely a choice that every person should make for themselves and every person should have the right to make that choice.”
They concluded, “I think the underlying tension of this rally is that people are afraid that this is one step down a slippery slope that will end in our reproductive rights being stripped from us. I think it’s simultaneously an ungrounded and very real fear.”
Those protesting the garden were not the only demographic represented at the rally. A number of individuals identifying as pro-life attended the rally as well.
One such individual was the previously mentioned Cameron, a fifth-year student in the agricultural sciences program at U of G. Cameron heard about the garden as well as the rally through Facebook, though from a Right to Life post. To Cameron, as an individual who supports the garden, “Memorials are created to stand in solidarity with those who have suffered loss or stand in solidarity with those who have done wonderful things.”
To Cameron, it is this first part which is most relevant in this context: “I think that’s the intention of this memorial garden—to stand in solidarity with women who are grieving choices that they’ve made, who are grieving the loss of a child that they believe was significant, whether through miscarriage or abortion.”
Cameron wasn’t at the rally to argue against a person’s ability to choose, “I came here because the article that I read said that a group of people were coming here to protest the memorial garden because they felt it vilified those who’ve had abortions,” he explained. “The subtle message that this protest sends is that it’s not okay for women to grieve.”
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Overnight Sunday, police were called to investigate at the Basilica after vandalism at the Garden of Grace was reported. Vandals spray-painted phrases like “Condom Not Condemn” and “Pro-Choice” on the new walkway and scattered the site with condoms and tampons, made to appear used.
Jeffs wrote to GuelphToday.com in an email that despite the vandalism and online comments regarding her personal morality, construction will resume on the garden, adding, “It will be here long after this group finds someone else’s rights and freedoms to trample upon.”
Organizers of Friday’s rally denied any involvement in the vandalism in an online post. “This is unfortunate and upsetting as this is something that could have been dealt with in a more mature manner. Vandalism is not part of our pro-choice message,” wrote Bortolon-Vettor on the rally’s event page, which continues to see traffic and stimulate dialogue on this issue.