Linda Gibbons has paid the ultimate sacrifice for what she believes in.
The longtime pro-life activist came to the Bulkley Valley last week to be the keynote speaker at Friday night’s annual Smithers Pro Life Society spring fundraising dinner.
The great-grandmother has been arrested 22 times, and spent more than 10 years in jail in total for standing outside of abortion clinics where injunctions exist that only allow protesters to be within 150 metres of the facility.
Gibbons looks to counsel women who feel they have no other choice, she said.
“This is what I feel God has called me to do,” Gibbons said. “Yes, I am breaking these injunctions and will continue to do so until they remove them or put a law in place to protect the unborn. I go there to be a presence for that child, that day. Getting arrested is not my intention.”
While in town, Gibbons also spoke to classes at Ebenezer Canadian Reformed School and Bulkley Valley Christian School. She shared the story of Mary Wagner, a woman who has been in prison for two years after being charged with mischief and breach of a court order for speaking to mothers inside the waiting room of a Toronto abortion clinic.
“Mary is highly thought of by the other women in the prison, ” Gibbons said. “And she serves them with all her heart.”
Gibbons is travelling all over Canada right now, raising awareness and money for Wagner’s defence.
“She’s made the sacrifice of staying out of jail so that she can do fundraising for Mary’s court case,” Smithers Pro Life Society board member Rod Taylor said.
“I’ll be back to my normal breaking the injunction and being arrested probably by summer,” Gibbons predicted.
