Clinic 554, formerly the Morgentaler Clinic, has operated out of its Brunswick Street location since 1994.
The Right to Life Association moved in next door six years later. The two remained neighbours until last summer, when the Right to Life Association’s building burnt down last July.
The city’s Planning Advisory Committee recently granted Right to Life a permit to rebuild on the same site their previous building stood.
Reproductive Justice NB has asked the City of Fredericton to prevent the Right to Life Association from returning to the location it had operated from until a fire destroyed their building last summer.
“Every year the right-to-life group has a 40-day vigil outside of the clinic with people at the clinic all day in front of the clinic, on the sidewalk praying,” Reproductive Justice NB member Sophie Lavoie explained. “It’s very intimidating to have people in front of the clinic when you’re going in for such a service, it’s a very private matter.”
READ MORE: Right to Life organization plans to set up shop next to Fredericton private abortion clinic
One letter called the group’s actions “illegal, immoral, and disgusting,” citing threats and harassment to those seeking health care at the clinic.
Heather Hughes, the Association’s Executive Director, strongly denies the charges.
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“We have always tried to be good neighbours, we do continue to be good neighbours,” Heather Hughes said. “As with any kind of civil discourse we can have opposing opinions and that makes us a great country.”
Hughes said the board which governs Right to Life, currently in a temporary location, decided they wanted to rebuild at the original site and had no plans to move elsewhere.
Due to what Reproductive Justice NB believes to be a hostile environment, they’re urging the city to step in.
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“The city has shown in the past that it can intervene in matters,” Lavoie said. “They bought out the lease for a bar when they were suspecting that organized crime might be coming into the city so the cost of the property right now with no building on it is not that expensive. It’s half of the price of the lease they bought out.”
Furthermore, they’d prefer this type of situation be dealt with sweepingly rather than on a case-by-case basis, following a template seen elsewhere in the country.
“Other cities in Canada have bubble zone legislation where the area around the clinic is protected from protesters exactly for the reasons of the privacy of the clients entering the building,” Lavoie explained. “So if it was a priority there would’ve been a range of options that the city could’ve done.”
Right to Life says they are unsure when construction on rebuilding their facility will begin.
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