Let’s just get something out of the way right now: not everyone is going to like you all of the time.
I know, it’s not fun being unliked. But we can do this.
Sometimes being right is more important than being liked, and as Life Week approaches (next week!) this felt like an important reminder for myself, and maybe for you too.
We’ve been making signs, and already had conversations with a neighbour while outside taking photographs to share. Putting those same signs in my window for a full week, and then heading outside regularly to work in my front garden while keeping an eye on my biker gang of children means plenty more conversations are likely coming my way.
I’m not thinking all those conversations will be negative. Most will probably be pretty quick and vague as people try to get away from me as quickly and politely possible. Some will probably be encouraging, as those who were previously unaware of the status quo of legal abortion through all 9 months of pregnancy become aware and are rightly horrified. The issue of sex selective abortion is also one we can agree on: killing a child because she is a girl is wrong.
But it is possible I’ll trigger something for someone, because yes, abortion is a sensitive issue. Approximately one in four Canadian women will have an abortion. That’s someone I love, someone you love, and almost certainly someone in yours and my neighbourhood.
So, participating in Life Week this year may be more intimidating than going to a March for Life. At the March for Life, you can hide in the crowd – safe, supported, surrounded by others who agree with you about the sanctity of human life. Being an activist at home is different – you are not coming back to your neighbourhood to wind down after a day out marching: you are IN the neighbourhood marching.
And it’s worth it. Approximately 300 pre-born children are killed every day in Canada, and they cannot be heard unless we are willing to speak up. Silence on the issue only leads to death for more babies, and less support for women who are suffering. We are not in this to make friends: we are in this to change hearts and minds and wake our nation up to the injustice of abortion.
The pro-life message is not something to be embarrassed or quiet about: it is a message to be boldly, passionately shared. Life Week is a unique opportunity to do that in your neighbourhood, explaining that you cannot attend a March for Life due to the current restrictions, but are participating in other ways to spread the pro-life message.
Be kind. Listen well. Ask questions. Show your respect for every human life by how you treat every human you interact with. But do not be quiet, and do not be afraid to do hard things at home.
Now, the SignsUp! campaign continues in your hands!
Want to do SignsUp! with your school club? Maybe you want to use the signs to send a message to your provincial legislature. Or maybe you and your friends want to educate commuters at a busy intersection near you.
The signs are available for use and, similar to our flag display, we will work with you to coordinate dates and location, and assist you as much as possible in sharing this message in your community. You can arrange to get signs and find out more here.
The first round of SignsUp! action got noticed. The week of the March for Life saw some of the most pro-life media coverage we have ever seen, and part of this was due to the fact that communities across Canada were confronted with the reality that Canada has no abortion law, and saw that people are willing to stand up and protest that injustice.
A quick look at how it went down:
Here are links to some of the media coverage generated by SignsUp!:
Does Canada need laws for abortion?
Ontario sentencing rekindles pre-born debate
Canadian March for Life will protest Canada allowing unlimited abortions up to birth
Letter to the Editor: Canada needs a law to govern abortion
Letter to the Editor: Thirty Groups March for Life
Local advocates raising awareness around abortion legislation
And a huge congratulations to these little volunteers who posed for what was selected as the winning picture from the campaign! Abortion is a hard thing to talk to kids about, but when you do, they instinctively get everything that’s wrong with it. This makes them passionate about sharing the message, and we hope that their childlike understanding of right and wrong when it comes to abortion will stay with them into all the gray areas of adulthood.
Of course, thank you to all of YOU who made this possible. Without cross country support, this campaign would not have been nearly as effective. We are honoured that so many of you would take time out of your day and week to stand up with us for those who cannot speak for themselves.
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My 12 year old daughter participated in her first protest march yesterday. The world tells my daughter to March! Fight! Stand up! Be firm in what you believe to be true! So she did; I couldn’t be more proud. She held her sign and marched. She had just learned in depth at school about our democratic legislature, and she knew how powerful and entitled she was to march.
Yet, as she marched, she was yelled at. Booed. Taunted. The world hated her marching.
Why are they yelling at me? she asked.
They don’t like your reason for marching, I said.
But I’m fighting for those who can’t, she said.
That doesn’t matter to them, I said.
But I don’t agree with them and I’m not yelling at them, she said.
I know, I said.
But what if we were all aborted? Then there would be no Edmonton, she said.
True, I said.
What if the kids who were aborted could have grown up and actually helped them? she said.
We’ll never know, I said.
But I’m not against women, Mom…I’m going to be one! she said.
Yes, but sometimes its very hard to support a child once its born. Women want the right to kill the baby first, I said.
But there are places that want to help them, she said.
Maybe no one has told them, I said.
And what about the baby’s rights? she said.
They don’t matter to many people, I said.
I saw the March for Life through her eyes and tried to shelter her from the hate. She knew she had the right to be there. She knew that Canada was the only democratic country in the world that has no laws defending the unborn. She knew that a baby just seconds prior to their first breath in Edmonton can be aborted. She protested the injustice, like the world has told her to do.
Yet they hated her.
My daughter had her first personal exposure to conflicting ideas smashing their heads on the streets of Edmonton. These streets scream love and tolerance for all Edmontonians – except for those that live in the womb, and for those that march for them.
Wake up, Edmonton! Celebrate a 12-year-old who has passion, a vision and a fierce desire to fight for the weakest members of our society. Applaud a preteen who isn’t even marching for herself, but for the most vulnerable. Don’t demand action and passion from our youth and hate them when they show it. May her efforts from yesterday’s March for Life send Edmonton the message she wanted: the unborn deserve rights, too.
Young people standing up for pre-born children at a March for Life.
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This year marks 50 years since Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau first legalized abortion in Canada. From there, remaining restrictions were removed in 1988. Ten years later, in 1998, Campaign Life Coalition organized the first March for Life on Parliament Hill. Now, many cities join every year with local events on the same day, adding their voices to the cry to protect unborn children.
This year, Toronto will host its first-ever March for Life, giving an opportunity for those in the GTA to add their voices to the national call for human rights for all human beings. The Toronto March for Life will feature workshops following the march, giving attendees the opportunity to equip themselves for confident everyday activism. These workshops aim to get people plugged in to active pro-life organizations in their own cities, and to equip them for conversations with friends, family, and colleagues.
More than 20 years since it began, the March has grown significantly, and the pro-life movement has grown significantly – but protections for pre-born children have not followed. The government seems not to care about numbers or consistency, and each year we march against a backdrop of the only western nation still with no restrictions on abortion.
We march anyway.
We do not march to put on a show, or to boast in our events. We march because 100,000 children are lost to abortion annually in Canada. We march because we understand the deep injustice of abortion, the lack of respect for the right to life, the disregard felt for humanity. Our hearts ache for these lost children, and for our lost country.
We do not march to make sure the government hears us; we march because it is the right thing to do. Rather than worry about who is hearing the message, and how loudly, we worry about who is not hearing it, and how to keep the message going beyond this single day of activism. We use the March to be encouraged by our fellow pro-lifers and to spur each other on to action that lasts all year, not just for one day.
Canadians need to know the status quo, and they also need to know why it is unacceptable. This is a message best carried locally, and personally. This year Toronto’s March for Life will give thousands more people the opportunity to be a voice for the voiceless. Maybe more cities will join next year, and the year after that. Maybe one day every city in Canada will host a March for Life, attended by those who make life a priority all year long.
Maybe then the government and pro-choice Canadians will hear and answer, and maybe they won’t. Either way, we will still march, and then we will go home to live every day in a way that honours life.
The annual March for Life saw thousands from the pro-life movement gather on Parliament Hill and walk the streets of Ottawa to advocate for protection for the pre-born. On the heels of this event, We Need a Law hosted its first ever Training in Action mini-conference!
It began on Thursday evening with a showing of After Tiller, a documentary film following four abortion doctors in the United States. The documentary was challenging as it provided the abortionists’ perspective on why they do late term abortions. After the viewing we discussed the issues raised, including the real suffering that comes from a difficult prenatal diagnosis, and how to compassionately but firmly advocate for a solution other than the premature ending of the pre-born child’s life.
On Friday we gathered at the ARPA offices in Ottawa for some breakfast. After the opening remarks from Mike Schouten, I was able to share We Need a Law’s initiatives including ending sex-selection abortion, parental consent requirements, recognizing pre-born victims of crime, and bringing Canada in line with other democracies with an International Standards Law.
Next Devorah Gilman shared with us some effective communication tactics when discussing pre-born human rights with the Canadian public. She emphasized the importance of “show, don’t tell” and how to use common ground, analogies, and questions to invite others to see that all humans, including the pre-born, are entitled to human rights.
Feeling ready to put this learning into action, we headed to the Human Rights Monument in downtown Ottawa to set up a flag display. We were able to engage people and talk to them about the fact that Canada is one of the only countries in the world without any law protecting the pre-born. We finished up with a de-brief back at the office before wrapping up the conference.
It was a great time of equipping Canadians to communicate the pro-life message. It is our hope that all the participants will take the skills learned and advocate for the rights of the pre-born in their communities.
On May 10, 2018, thousands of Canadians are gathered in Ottawa to show how much pre-born human rights matter to them. Men, women and children, young and old, take time out of their lives because they care deeply about the lives of others.
It’s sad that we’ve had to do this for so many years, but the fact that so many people show up to the March for Life every single year shows that we’re committed to never giving up. This is something that matters too much.
The March for Life is one of the largest marches that happens in Canada annually, and it’s always encouraging to see so many pro-lifers gathered in one place. Obviously, human rights matter to a lot of people, and we hope all Canadians will consider why Canada is the only country in the world with zero regulations surrounding the procedure of abortion. Canadians need to consider whether they are actually okay with the status quo. Polls consistently show that the majority of Canadians are unaware of our lack of abortion regulations. When asked directly, the majority supports some legal restriction on abortion.
We advocate for laws that begin to get Canada in line with international guidelines. For example, limiting abortion in some cases, such as banning sex-selective abortions and ending abortions after the first trimester, would be similar to countries like Germany, France and Spain. We also promote informed consent and laws that recognize pre-born children as victims if their mother is killed as a result of violent crime.
All of these steps are building blocks in changing hearts and minds as Canadians find they support these types of regulations. Supporting these first steps indicates an awareness of the humanity of pre-born children, a humanity that we ultimately hope will be honoured with full human rights.
Canadians need to know the status quo, but they also need to know why it is unacceptable. By working together, the pro-life movement can make abortion not just illegal, but unthinkable.
The right to life and the need for change in Canada: these are why we march.
As we approach our 150th birthday this summer, we shouldn’t be resting on the laurels of a renowned human rights record. Instead, we should be engaged in serious reflection and self-examination. How can we do better?
The number one way in which we can do better is in relation to our most vulnerable. Pre-born babies continue to be discarded by the tens of thousands every year. Politicians are scared of the topic – Liberals because they could lose their jobs if they talk about it, Conservatives because they’re told they may not get the job if they talk too much about it.
In our apparent attempt to maintain an international reputation as tolerant, progressive, and accommodating, we have ended up with special interest rights trumping human rights. “Reproductive rights” have somehow trumped the right to life, and suggesting that human rights should trump women’s rights is not going to win me any popularity contests.
It is only a matter of time, however, before everyone has to admit that the emperor has no clothes. Science has never been clearer regarding the intricate humanity of life in the womb. The pre-born child is unequivocally a separate, living human being. It is dependent on its mother, yes, as is a newborn or toddler. Also like a newborn or toddler, the pre-born child has its own DNA, and can even be operated on separately from the mother.
In the blur of plummeting birth rates and newfound sexual freedom that came with widely available birth control, we as women somehow came to believe that we were the masters of conception. Not one of us would ever again have a child against her will; we would decide whether life lived or died within us. This belief led us to fight tooth and nail against any suggestion that pregnancy might just be something we couldn’t always control, and we’ve managed to convince a lot of women to cling to that control regardless of the consequences. By doing so, we’ve also allowed men to step back from responsibility, to expect control, and to turn a blind eye to consequences.
The rights to life, liberty and security of the person were matters of life and death to our forefathers. They founded our nation on these values because these values mean something. We cannot be casual about these terms, or the associated implication that human rights trump individual rights. The right to life, the primary human right, is violated every moment that abortion remains legal in Canada. We need to stand up and say this is not about bodily autonomy or fighting patriarchy, this is about life. So women, men and children from all ages and stages of life, all backgrounds, all with their own stories, beliefs, and reasons for being there, will march. We march for, and stand for, the right to life for all members of the human family.
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So Prime Minister Justin Trudeau marched in Toronto’s pride parade last month. It was all very exciting and social-media worthy, obviously, as who doesn’t love a flamboyant family man enjoying a good colorful parade with way more skin on display than would allow him to actually bring said family along?
While I’m sure this politically-safe publicity stunt won over a few fans, I think it’s also safe to say that basically every other minority group should assume that this isn’t going to be standard behaviour. The LGBTQ movement continues to hold some kind of political spell where they are one of the most recognized, lauded minority groups in Canada (although brief mention was given to another worthwhile minority group who seem to be being pushed too quickly out of view, the Syrian refugees, as one was given the honor of marching beside Trudeau for the duration of the parade.)
We seem to have a Prime Minister who is always up for being front and center at a party (recent Calgary Stampede photos back this up), but quick to quietly fade into the background when an issue surrounded by real debate calls his name. Basically any minority group could jump in here with agreement and examples, and one issue where this is the case is that of abortion and the right to life.
Trudeau openly supports “choice” – which, ironically, means one choice, the choice to end the life of children in the womb. Trudeau joins thousands to march in the Pride Parade, but turns a blind eye to the equal thousands who marched in the March for Life in May. Despite how efficiently euthanasia legislation was passed, with consideration and discussion and solidifying of legal limitations, we continue in our on-going allowance of absolutely unlimited abortion.
To allow abortion at any stage of a pregnancy, with no laws protecting our choice as women to carry a baby, no law protecting perfectly healthy girls from being dismembered because their father wanted a boy, and no law to protect a baby with Down’s Syndrome from being eliminated as not perfect enough, it is clear our lawmakers are not having a discussion that very much needs to be had.
Trudeau is quoted in the Globe and Mail as saying, “We have to speak up any time there is intolerance or discrimination.” We couldn’t agree more, and we’re speaking up. If the annual death of approximately 100,000 children who have never been given a chance at life isn’t discrimination, I don’t know what is. If the elimination of people with disabilities is not discrimination, I don’t know what is.
And we’re not going to stop speaking up. We look forward to the day when a Canadian Prime Minister will make headlines for marching in the National March for Life, and his (or her!) decision will be supported and celebrated with the same media enthusiasm we saw for Mr. Trudeau’s attendance at the Pride Parade.
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Should Christians rally on the steps of government? Does Scripture allow for peaceful protest? While many answer in the affirmative there are some Bible believing Christians who do not support any form of protest and see it as an act of aggression against God-ordained civil authorities. As a response to those who do not support the annual March for Life demonstration I quote my colleague André Schutten. In an article he wrote for the Reformed Perspective magazine he says,
In a free and democratic society, organized rallies and protest are part of the political process. In a nation where every citizen has a voice in electing their representative, where every citizen can contribute to the public policy debate, and where every citizen can independently lobby for change, protests play a legitimate role. Protests are not inherently anarchist or anti-government. When done legally, in a peaceful and organized fashion, protests are a means of engaging with the elected leadership on an issue, demonstrating to them that many citizens care deeply about this particular issue and that they expect change.
André goes on to write,
Also, a distinction could be made between protesting for others, over protesting for our own individual interests. There is definitely a Christian obligation for the former over the latter. This is borne out in the command to love one’s neighbour as oneself, and to be our brother’s keeper. Turning the cheek applies to personal insult and persecution, and not to persecution of others. We need to stand up for our neighbours, including the pre-born ones.
And so this week thousands of Christians will be marching with many other concerned citizens in Ottawa and capital cities throughout the country. The 2015 March for Life, like all other years is a peaceful protest to the stark, and vulgar reality that our pre-born neighbours have no legal protection throughout the entire period of pre-natal development. This year there will also be specific focus on the recent legalization of euthanasia and assisted suicide as a result of the Supreme Court ruling a few months ago.
Concerning pre-born human rights Canada’s courts have consistently referred to abortion as medically necessary. But, no court – at any level – has excluded the possibility of governments (provincial or federal) from regulating abortion. In fact, in the most famous case dealing with abortion, R. v. Morgentaler [1988], the Supreme Court was nearly emphatic that while the abortion regulations at the time were found to be unconstitutional, Parliament had a duty to enact new laws that were both constitutional and protected the fetus at some point.
In several provinces there is a specific focus at 2015 March for Life events to build support for parental consent or notification laws. It is unfortunate that many choice-focused individuals and organizations take a fundamentally flawed approach to the issue of parental consent for abortion. They frame the problem as, “Choice and bodily autonomy at all costs and anyone who opposes that opposes women’s rights.” Unfortunately, this “at all costs” approach harms the very women it sets out to protect, especially when it is applied to adolescents making decisions on whether to continue a pregnancy.
Nationally there is a continuing push for laws which address gendercide or sex-selective abortion as well as the more recent building of support for a pre-born victims of crime law. These both will receive attention at the National March for Life in Ottawa.
Canada has a long ways to go in regards to implementing abortion regulations which are already in place in all other democratic nations. The virtue of perseverance is something we pray for daily as we work to advance pre-born human rights both federally and provincially.
The March for Life is an opportunity to respond to the call of Proverbs 24:
“Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward the slaughter. If you say, “But we knew nothing about this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards your life know it? Will he not repay each person according to what he has done?”
We know what abortion is and what it does. For those Christians who are hesitant to join in peaceful protest – or even militantly opposed – it must be said that God is not simply suggesting that we get involved, he is ordering us to do something! If not, we risk serious consequences. Let your March for Life experience be a springboard to year-round activism as, in God’s strength, we do everything possible to protect all those created in His image.
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