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December 27, 1985 News 985-2131 Classified 986-62

ANTI-ABORTIONISTS George Carruthers and
Michael Whelton have lost their appeal to file a
civil suit against Lions Gate Hospital over its

abortion policies.

A B.C. Court of Appeal
decision handed down Mon-
day upheld an_ earlier
Supreme Court ruling that

Sent
Ra SAW

prevented the two North
Shore residents from filing
the suit against the hospital,
the hospital society and 12

Piano prodigy

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TCOUVER

- By TIMOTHY. RENSHAW -

Lions Gate doctors.

In the original Aug. 3,
1984 decision, Supreme
Court Justice Hugh Legg
supported arguments by the
provincial At-

tangible
reminder
PAGE 3

torney-General’s department
which stated that the Car-
tuthers-Whelton suit could
not proceed because the
complainants had no greater
interest in the case than any
other member of the general
public.

Carruthers and Whelton,

Set

A PICKUP truck took a rough ride and an

even rougher landing

after being stolen from

Environment Canada offices in North Van-

couver,

The three-quarter ton
truck was stolen from
Environment Canada’s
aquatic toxicology lab on
Weich Street during a re-
cent break-in.

The truck was found
rolled on the industrial
slats at the foot of Fell
street without the ignition

Sometime between 7:30
p.m. and 8 a.m. thieves
smashed the front win-
dow of the lab and forced
entry, police said.

While the lab’s staff is
stil conducting an inven-
tory, nothing besides the
truck appears to have
been taken.

both life members of the
LGH hospital society and
former hospital board direc-
tors, originally launched
their suit in 1982,

Carruthers said Tuesday
that Monday’s decision was
very disappointing, but was
not the er : of the legal road

NEWS photo fan Smith

Police think the break-

in and theft may be con-

nected to another break-

in that occurred in the

same area on the same
night.

Toxicology lab director
Ron Watts said the truck
was used to transport live
fish, and its loss — it was
heavily damaged when it
ploughed up a wooded
mound and rolled onto its
roof — has been a con-
siderable inconvenience.

for his suit: ‘‘We have given
instruction to our lawyers to
apply for an appeal to the
Supreme Court of Canada."”

Nothing had been resolved
by the B.C. Court of Appeal
decision, Carruthers said.
“We have a situation in
Canada where unborn
children are being killed
through abortion at public
hospitals using public
money. The politicians ref-
use to deal with the issue.
It’s a disgrace.’’

The abortion rate at Lions
Gate, according to Car-
tuthers, is three times the
Canadian average.

Saying justice had prevail-
ed and that she was
“ecstatic” with, Monday's
decision, chairman of the
35-member LGH_ board
Hilary Clark said Tuesday
the money thus far used to
fuel the legal fires set by the
Carruthers-Whelton ‘‘pro-
life suit’? would have been
far better spent on sex
and contraception education
for the North Shore public.

In 1982, the average
number of abortions per-
formed at the hospital was
60 per month with $28 births
in the same period. Since
1983, the average number of
abortions has drapped to 50
per month, compared to 125

births.

Claims chat abortions
were ‘“‘rubber-stamped’’ by
the hospital’s five-member
therapeutic abortion com-
mittee, she said, were ‘‘a lot
of rot.”

All women applying for
abortions at LGH go
through three levels of
counselling before reaching
the committee, Clark  ex-
plained, at which point
“those who have had second
thoughts have been weeded
out, leaving only those who
are adament."

Clark, who is in her se-
cond year as board chairman
and is running for re-election
in the spring, said she
respected pro-lifers and their
beliefs, but was against
anyone's attempts to get be-
tween doctors and their pa-
tients,