After The Catholic Register revealed that pro-life advocate Alissa Golob went undercover while 22 weeks pregnant to test whether late-term abortions were accessible in Canada without medical justification, the national response continues to intensify, with a new twist: a fourth hidden-camera video that Golob says she is legally barred from releasing.

Golob, co-founder of RightNow, posed as an undecided pregnant woman in abortion facilities in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary in 2023. The Register’s Anna Farrow detailed her conversations with counsellors and physicians who told her late-term abortions could be arranged at nearby hospitals, sometimes “up to 32 weeks,” without needing to provide medical reasons.

Staff described procedures as a “mini stillbirth,” advising her she could “expel the fetus in the car,” and said reasons such as already having two children or “not wanting to be pregnant” were acceptable.

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Those recordings — three of which have now been released — directly contradict long-standing political claims that late-term abortions in Canada are only performed in cases of maternal health risk or severe fetal anomalies.

In an email interview with The B.C. Catholic, Golob said the reaction from Canadians has been more visceral than she expected. The dominant response has been “overwhelming shock and horror from the average Canadian who didn’t think late-term abortions were possible,” she said. Many who describe themselves as pro-choice wrote to her saying the recordings were disturbing and that unrestricted late-term abortion “just shouldn’t be allowed.”

By contrast, she said some abortion-rights advocates have reacted with confusion and contradiction. 

“They were basically trying to throw everything they could at it to see if anything would stick,” she said. “Some said the videos were lies, some said late-term abortions don’t happen — despite the videos proving otherwise.”

Golob said the most significant development since the story broke is her discovery that she cannot release the Calgary footage at all.

“Alberta, shockingly, has the most extreme and over-reaching bubble-zone legislation in the country,” she said. “Distributing any footage recorded in the bubble zone could result in a fine or jail time.”

Although no physician has contacted her privately, Golob says some health-care professionals reacted strongly in group chats and medical forums.

“Doctors were trying to disprove that late-term abortions happen until others in the chat posted my undercover videos.” 

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None of the clinics featured in the videos have issued public statements or responded to inquiries. 

“They know they’ve been caught red-handed… there’s not much they can say to remedy the situation, so they say nothing at all,” she said.

Abortion advocacy organizations, including Action Canada, have alleged the videos lack context. Golob dismisses the charge. 

“Of course the videos were edited — sometimes I was in the clinics for hours,” she said, and “99 per cent of the talking” is by clinic staff.

She noted that if anything were manipulated, the clinics could sue her and “easily win.” She has already shared the full recordings with reporters so they could verify that passages were not altered.

Conservative MPs including Leslyn Lewis, Rosemarie Falk and Garnett Genuis have shared the videos, as did PPC leader Maxime Bernier. Liberal MP Doug Eyolfson condemned them, drawing “surprising” pushback from Canadians across party lines.

Golob said the recordings show that late-term abortion referrals are far easier to obtain than most Canadians assume.

“Abortionists have no problem and easily and readily refer you for a late-term abortion… for absolutely no reason whatsoever,” she said. Even an explanation as simple as “I don’t want to be pregnant” was treated as acceptable for a third-trimester referral.

Golob said one issue has been overlooked in the public debate: the reliability of Canadian abortion statistics.

“In multiple videos I was told that any end of pregnancy after 20 weeks — no matter how it happens — is considered a stillbirth,” she said. Combined with the fact that provinces report statistics voluntarily, she argues Canadians have no way of knowing how many late-term induction abortions actually occur. 

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For now, Golob says she has no further video releases planned unless Alberta changes its law. But she believes a door Canadians weren’t expecting has opened.

“People are seeing something they were told for years was impossible — and they want answers.”