…er, I mean, “shady suitcase found empty.”
A suitcase that prompted a bomb scare Monday afternoon outside a downtown Ottawa abortion clinic turned out to be empty…
the large black suitcase leaning against a post…was empty and had been left out for disposal.
You know how it is. The Canadian press is riddled with stories of abortion-clinics exploding. No wonder someone thought is was a bomb.
But, wait a sec, the one and only bombing ever to occur in Canada in relation to an abortion clinic was in 1992. Hmm, that’s (…1…2 …carry the 4…) over 16 years ago!
I wonder if the reaction from emergency services would have been the same had the suitcase been found outside a Denny’s.
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Brigitte adds: As a certified paranoid (perhaps in part due to having spent time in France during a Vigipirate episode), I admit I always look twice at such objects. You never know, and failure to notice a dangerous package might easily be catastrophic. But there’s a difference between looking twice and freaking out unduly, given that abandoned empty suitcases are mostly an affront to our aesthetic sensibilities. Oh, and I love the last line in the story Tanya links to:
Anti-abortion protesters often march and wave placards outside the clinic.
But of course. Placard wavers! Not far from an abandoned suitcase! Who wouldn’t call the police?
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Andrea adds: What is more interesting than the short news story are the comments, including this one from one “Bunty W”:
So yeah, I’m glad I killed that fetus! Morgenthaler deserves sainthood as far as I’m concerned.
and this on the “clump of cells” argument:
You (who have clearly never read a science textbook) will be amazed to know that YOU are just a cluster of cells. Trees are clusters of cells, fish are clusters of cells… everything in the living world, AMAZING!
The comments go on for a long while. This is interesting, because the issue is resolved and has been closed for a very long time…this I know, for pro-choice advocates tell me so… (Sing with me.)
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What I want to know is – who called the police? I also wonder if the emergency response would have been the same if the suitcase had been left on the west side of Bank St. where the marching, placard-waving anti-abortion protesters have “set up camp” (to borrow a phrase from one of the commenters). The only “marching” that goes on is on May 14 of each year – Canada’s “day of infamy”. And there’s no placard-waving, just a person or two pacing with their little signs. But then, I guess I’m talking to the choir here. And it sounds like Andrea is wishing for some choir action…”sing with me” – that totally cracked me up. Is the rain getting to you?
I find it interesting that an empty suitcase left out for the garbage man made the news while a violent assault on a 51 year old prolife demonstrator at that same location didn’t get so much as a mention in the media.