City hall to draft bylaw restricting how graphic anti-abortion flyers are distributed in Calgary

Jennifer Wyness, city councillor for Ward 2, says she has spoken to many of her constituents who are also upset by graphic anti-abortion flyers.

Calgary’s city council has voted unanimously to crack down on graphic anti-abortion flyers.

Council is asking city administration to draft a bylaw that would put restrictions on how pamphlets with graphic images of aborted fetuses are distributed.

Councillor Jennifer Wyness filed a notice of motion in September calling on the city to introduce rules that would require graphic images to be concealed in an envelope and have a warning label.

She equated the images to pornography or gore.

The vote, which took place Wednesday, passed unanimously.

Mayor Jyoti Gondek reflected on her own personal experience.

“It is incredibly traumatizing. I've had this dropped into my mailbox after a miscarriage and that is not something that I wish for other people to go through,” Gondek said.

“Thank you, Councillor Wyness. Your leadership has been fabulous on this. I know that you have weathered a storm from the haters. I apologize that you had to go through that.”

The drafted bylaw will be presented to council in 2023.

Wyness said in September she had spoken to many of her constituents who were also upset by the material.

“I heard story after story of traumatization in my community,” she told CTV News at the time.

“Parents had to engage in sex education conversations with young kids, four-year-olds, years before they were ready and kids had nightmares. Women and families in the community who had suffered pregnancy loss were re-traumatized.”