Anti-abortion group defends itself over latest 'graphic' flyer featuring Tory MP

An Alberta-based anti-abortion group is making no apologies for again distributing graphic flyers to Calgary homes that were apparently seen and handled by young children.

According to Metro News, some residents of a Calgary neighbourhood are fuming after some of their sons and daughters — including a large number at a daycare centre — picked-up the postcard which included a photo-shopped image of Tory MP Michelle Rempel smiling over a gruesome image of a bloody fetus.

"Politician Michelle Rempel supports abortion," notes the card produced and hand-delivered by the Canadian Centre for Bio Ethical Reform (CCBR).

"And she wants to be your MP."

The CCBR’s Jonathon Van Maren is adamant that his group, which has distributed over 300,000 of these types of flyers over the past year, won’t change their tactics.

"Obviously, kids aren’t our target audience but when it comes to the issue of abortion we realize we have to change public opinion before we can hope for a change in public policy. So reaching out to the Canadian public is really the only option we have," Van Maren told Yahoo Canada News.

"We’re showing people what abortion looks like so they realize that what we’re talking about is a real human being that is being victimized. We’ve seen a tremendous response in that regard. We’ve had enormous numbers of people who have told us that they went from being pro-choice to pro-life after seeing the imagery. And we’ve heard from many many women who have cancelled their abortions afterwards."

But what about the kids seeing these images?

According to Van Maren, pre-teens are really not affected by them.

"I’ve attended hundreds if not thousands of pro-life displays using this imagery and have seen hundreds of kids walk by when we’re in public spaces. And the only kids that have ever been upset by the imagery are children whose parents get wildly upset," he said noting that if they put the postcards in envelopes they would lose their effect.

"We do try to put the postcards in mailboxes but what we do see is that children will react how the parents react when it comes to things like this."

[ Related: The abortion debate bubbles back to the surface ]

It appears that CCBR is targeting Calgary and Toronto area Conservative MPs who voted against an abortion bill in September 2012 The private members bill, Bill M-312, would have required a Parliamentary committee to study the point at which a baby becomes a human being.

In each case, the flyers include a picture of the MP next to the fetus and a message urging residents to contact to their member of parliament “if you are offended by what you see.”

Yahoo Canada News has contacted Michelle Rempel’s office for comment on the latest postcard. As of press time there was no response.

(Photo courtesy of The Canadian Press)

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