R$.$ v$.$ Spratt, $2008$ BCCA $340($CanLII$)$; application

for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court dismissed

June $18,2009$

$[$Note: Your instructor may assign this case as a Shared Writing activity.$]$

Spratt and Watson were charged under sections $2(1)($a$)$ and $2(1)($b$)$ of the

provincial Access to Abortion Services Act as a result of their activities outside of

a Vancouver health clinic. Signs stating "You shall not murder" and "Unborn

Persons Have the Right to Live" were waved within a "bubble" or access zone

outside the abortion clinic. The law aims to protect women from interference in

this zone. The accused argued that the law violates their freedom of expression.

Whose rights should be paramount in cases such as this?