Just two days after pro-choice advertisements started to appear on buses around Kelowna, a local group against abortion planted flags and held a protest along Highway 97.
Pro-Choice OKGN, an organization that encompasses local reproductive rights movements and educational efforts throughout the Okanagan, announced on social media earlier this week that it had received enough funding through fundraising efforts to place ads on buses and transit signs throughout town.
Two days later, on the morning of Thursday, June 25, motorists along Highway 97 might have noticed thousands of blue and pink flags near Banks Road. These flags were planted by fewer than 10 individuals from the Kelowna Right to Life Society, a local group against abortion, euthanasia and medical assisted death.
The Society planted 10,000 flags along the highway, representing the 100,000 abortions in Canada each year, which they equate to lives lost. It’s an annual event the group hosts.
According to Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) annual statistics, 102,705 abortions occurred across the country in 2024, with only 20,799 taking place in a hospital.
“Abortion kills an innocent human being,” said Marlon Bartham, executive director of the Kelowna Right to Life Society told Black Press Media.
“There’s no such thing as a human being that’s not a person. We made those mistakes before, and we’re doing it again.”
Bartham claimed abortion is the number one cause of death in Canada every year, but according to the Government of Canada, cancer is and accounted for 26.2 per cent of deaths in 2024.
Abortion is legal in Canada and has been since 1988.
“Abortion (voluntary termination of a pregnancy) is a legal and regulated medical procedure to terminate a pregnancy. It is important to note that provinces and territories have different guidelines related to abortions,” reads the Government of Canada website. “Everyone has the right to make decisions about their own bodies, and no one should be forced to carry an unwanted or unsafe pregnancy.”
According to Bartham, most people say to her that they are shocked when they find out abortion is legal in Canada at all stages of pregnancy.
In addition, Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights said no doctors or clinics in Canada currently provide abortion care beyond 23 weeks and 6 days of gestation.
Thousands of commuters drove or walked past the protest on Thursday, with mixed reactions from the public, according to Bartham.
“We’ve had positives, as well as a few negative people yelling. Two years ago somebody ran through the flags and trampled on them.”
Pro-Choice OKGN told Black Press Media it believes these annual protests are damaging.
“The Kelowna Right To Life Society’s flag display is harmful in how it constructs abortion as a moral issue, as opposed to what it really is, a life-saving medical procedure that affirms the bodily autonomy of women and pregnant people in Canada,” said co-founder Sophie Harms in an emailed statement.
“This demonstration does not actually do anything to support so-called unborn children. Instead, it shames one-in-three women in Canada who choose abortion, a safe and common medical procedure.”
Pro-Choice OKGN and the Kelowna and District Pro-Choice Action Society say a large group of people living in the Okanagan are supportive of abortion despite how outwardly the the Kelowna Right to Life Society advertises their beliefs.
Abortion remains one of the most controversial topics in Canada, with 33 per cent of women getting an abortion at some point in their lives.
According to the Government of Canada, 90 per cent of abortions take place in the first trimester.