Sonali Menezes. Calli Starret. Kaliesha Boudreau.
These young women, all in their early 20s, say they have autonomy over their bodies. They choose whether to give birth or not give birth, based on their own circumstances, their own choice, and their right. No one has the the right to shame them into thinking or feeling otherwise, they say.
The three were part of a peaceful rally Friday night that numbered as many as 80 people, all insulted and outraged by the new Garden of Grace, now under construction next to Basilica of Our Lady Immaculate. The rally assembled on the sidewalk along Norfolk Street, off of church property and at the foot of the church’s stairs.
The fact that the garden was funded entirely by Guelph and Area Right to Life, an anti-abortion/pro-life group, brands it as an oppressive statement against those who chose abortion, the women said. Many at the rally said it should never have been placed on Catholic Hill, which is as much a public space as a private one.
Menezes, 23, said she was surprised and horrified to learn of the garden.
“It horrifies me because this property sort of straddles the line between a public and private space,” Menezes said. “We know that the Guelph Civic Museum is here. This is in a central location in Guelph.”
The right of bodily autonomy, she indicated, is sacrosanct.
“As someone who believes in bodily autonomy, and as a person with a uterus, it is my decision to continue a pregnancy or not,” said the visual arts student.
“I think this encroaches on the rights of Guelphites,” Menezes continued. “It’s shaming, and it also passes judgement in a public space. It tarnishes the space, and it tarnishes Guelph. And it specifically makes a lot of people in the center of the city feel very unwelcome, and shamed for their decision.”
Starrett said choice is a human right.
“If I’m not ready mentally, emotionally, and physically to have a child, I should have the choice,” she said. “I want to live in a world where I have rights that I don’t have to constantly fight for.”
Boudreau said there are many people suffering in the world, and that is where our focus should be, not on shaming others.
“We need to take care of those people,” she said, adding that she believes in self-determination, while the pro-life group does not.
Boudreau and others said women should not be shamed into continuing a pregnancy, only to give the child up for adoption at birth. It is not fair to woman or child.
Boudreau called the Garden of Grace the “Altar of Shame,” because, she said, it was funded by a pro-life group and reflects a patriarchal mentality that seeks to control women’s bodies.
Jake Cadieux said he came out to the rally to “stand in solidarity” with female friends who had to endure guilt and shame for choosing abortion. He said the $91,000 being spend on the Garden of Grace could have been better spent on a women’s shelter.
“This doesn’t reflect my voice as a lifelong resident of Guelph,” Cadieux said. “It doesn’t reflect who we are.”
Father Dennis Noon, pastor of Basilica of Our Lady, and Jakki Jeffs, the organizer of the garden and a representative of Guelph and Area Right to Life, were at the site of the garden Friday night as the rally went on down the hill.
Jeffs said opponents of the memorial garden are within their rights to state publicly their opposition to it.
Noon said freedom of expression in one of the inherent rights of Canadians, and he, too, recognized the right of the protesters to state their opinion.
But he said supporters of the garden also have rights, and they are exercising them by establishing a garden that will be beautiful and appreciated by many.
“I think it will be very nice when it is all finished,” he said, while standing on the garden’s unfinished walkway. “It will be a place for people to come and reflect.”
