Joanne of Arc's blog

             Katie Somers in her flight attendant uniform on the left and her activism role on the right --Photos: Katie Somers

By Joanne of Arc for Quebec Life Coalition 

How does a flight attendant go from traveling across Canada to spending most of her time in the streets of Toronto talking about abortion?  

Katie Somers is the Outreach director at Toronto Right to Life, a pro-life organization that condemns all forms of abortion-related violence and works to make abortion “unthinkable.” However, before she dedicated herself to the pro-life cause, she was a flight attendant for 14 years working domestically across Canada, a job she told Quebec Life Coalition that she absolutely loved, but felt called by God to leave so that she could work for the pro-life movement.  

In 2015, Katie involved herself in activism on Toronto’s city streets and campuses. This is also the year that she saw an abortion video on social media that compelled her to make the move permanently into activism. 

In January 2023, Quebec Life Coalition held a conference titled Students for Life during which Katie shared about her experiences doing pro-life activism. She encouraged the students to be bold, because, she said, “ordinary people like you and me, with just a little bit of training and guidance can have powerful impacts on the pro-life cause.” 

Katie speaking at the "Students for Life" event held by Quebec Life Coalition January 14th - Photo: Joanne Of Arc

When prompted about what is the most important aspect of her job, Katie put the emphasis on showing the public what abortion actually looks like using abortion victim photography.  This kind of activism happens right in the streets of Toronto where passersby get to see larger-than-life billboards that show the truth about the gruesome reality of abortion.  

“Many people have canceled their abortions just from seeing the images of what abortion does to a pre-born child. Having conversations is important too, but the most important thing is for people to see abortion. Injustice that remains hidden, remains tolerated, so we have to expose it to change the culture,” she said.  

Katie explains that she has “always been pro-life”, but she was not aware something could be done about it until she encountered organizations like Canadian Centre for Bioethical Reform (CCBR) and Toronto Right to Life  

“I clicked on a blog post from CCBR one day while online. I saw abortion videos on their website for the first time and was gutted. At first, I was angry, thinking that this would turn people away. But, after days of not being able to get the images out of my head, I thought how effective that would be for someone who supported abortion. After all, I didn’t need convincing. I saw what they were doing with their outreach and heard so many stories of people changing their minds, and I wanted to try it for myself.”  

At the January 14 Students for Life conference, Katie explained that campuses are some of the most important places where activism can have an impact, because students are curious and “at the phase of life where they are making up their minds about big topics.”  

“We have a perfect opportunity to bring the truth about abortion to them, especially since we know that universities can be really closed to the truth when it comes to abortion. (...) [Therefore], showing them the truth is of the most urgency, because the most lives stand to be saved. We also know that campuses are educating the future leaders of our world. They need the pro-life message, because they will go on to enact policy and shape our culture,” she said.  

Katie doing campus activism in front of Durham College in Ontario -- Photo: Katie Somers

Based on the way she motivated the audience and the passion she brought to the topic, Katie is enthusiastic about her career change. She shared engaging stories at the event that made students laugh. One of them was about how she was able to change the mind of a vegan that was pro-abortion, on campus. She asked him why he was vegan, and he answered that he did not consent to animals being killed. She pointed at her sign showing an abortion victim. She asked if he thought these humans consented to being killed. He stared at it and said, “No, no I guess they don’t”. It was then that she asked him a second time if he was still pro-abortion. He then replied, “No, no I guess I’m not.”  

Not all minds can be changed this rapidly. Katie has had her share of people getting angry at her, yelling at her, and being disgusted with the images. But, some of them have gone from this to embracing the pro-life position over time.  

Some of her exchanges are rapid. Once, she was asked to summarize her position, to which she said, “I believe all human beings have human rights; science tells us life begins at fertilization; abortion kills a human being; therefore, it is a human rights violation”.  The person, who was at first pro-abortion, saw the logic of the argument and changed his mind, saying, “that makes perfect sense.” 

Katie categorizes campus conversations into a few categories: those that are in denial about science, those that are philosophical and focus on personhood, those that focus on bodily autonomy, those that focus on difficult situations, and the ones where there is a heart issue - when a person supports abortion for personal or emotional reasons. According to Katie, if someone does campus outreach, they can encounter people who fall into one of these categories. “But, with just a bit of training, some compassion and with the wisdom and grace of the Holy Spirit, people completely change,” she says. “They don’t just change their minds on abortion, but they transform from someone hurting to someone healed by truth and love”.  

Katie concluded her presentation at the “Students for life” event by telling the youth to not be intimidated.  

“I didn’t go to university. I’m not special, and I wasn’t always a ‘professional’ at this. If you love the pre-born, and put in a bit of effort, you will see how effective you can be. And, the babies, and the people hurting from the evil that is abortion, need every single one of us to step up and do our part.”