London city council votes to regulate graphic anti-abortion imagery in public

London city council is moving ahead with the creation of a bylaw to ban graphic imagery, namely anti-abortion signs, from public display.

Council voted 9-6 in favour of asking staff to draft a bylaw. Those opposed expressed concerns over the legal ramifications of a sign ban.

Councillors Jerry Pribil, Peter Cuddy, Susan Stevenson, Steve Lehman, Steven Hillier, and Paul Van Meerbergen voted against the bylaw.

"We're frankly in the middle of doing a dance on a huge landmine which is ready to blow, called the Charter of Rights and Freedoms," Van Meerbergen said. "We shouldn't be trying to bubble wrap some at the expense of the basic rights of others."

Debates on how to regulate graphic imagery aren't new to London's council chambers. Since 2021, councillors have been discussing the issue with a focus on anti-abortion imagery. An early draft bylaw was shot down over legal worries in the past.

That law would have banned graphic images from being placed in mailboxes, but instead councillors decided on a law that would simply require graphic flyers to be labelled with a warning sticker.

In late 2023, the debate was reignited after Ward 1 Coun. Hadleigh McAllister and Ward 6 Coun. Sam Trosow asked staff to prepare an amendment to the city's Streets Bylaw targeting the display of graphic images, visible on public property.

"I think that there are limitations. You can have your opinions, but I don't think that you should traumatize people to make your point," said McAllister during Tuesday's council meeting. "I do agree that [the Charter] is something we have to keep in mind."

Other councillors said they had heard from numerous constituents that anti-abortion imagery had been a problem for them in the past, during Tuesday's debate.

Moving forward, city staff, who in the past recommended against a ban, have been instructed to draft a bylaw, that council will then debate at a later date.