40 Days for Life: Day 1 Exchange
Three hours had yet gone by in this Fall's 40 days for Life prayer vigil for the end of abortion that a surprising exchanged had already occurred.
Our eighth vigil in Lahaie Park, Montreal, across the street from the Morgentaler abortion mill, began as in previous campaigns. Our banner was up, vigilers were present, and the occasional passerby made some disparaging comment or rude gesture. Nothing unusual.
The surprising occurred when one such passerby actually came back for a talk! Earlier, on his bike, he had sarcastically shouted at me that he would be praying that I would go away. Yet within five minutes here he is, back in front of me, minus his bicycle.
Over the next five to ten minutes we had a respectful talk, he outlining his reasons for being pro-choice and I, pro-life.
He told me that it is preferable to abort a child than to see it live a life of poverty. When I asked him how do we know that of the child, he responded that we have a good knowledge who is fated to such a life.
Also, he believed that in many Asian countries, over-population is a major concern and so abortion is justified.
As for me, I pointed out to him the high rate of infertility among couples in Canada - 18% or so, and that carrying the child to term and then putting the infant up for adoption would bring join to some couple. He seemed to like this idea.
I don't remember how the conversation ended, but it was quite different than when we initially met one another.
The vigil runs through to Sunday, November 4th, 2012. Register or drop by daily, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
40 Days for Life: Kick Off Event Summary
Upwards to forty people gathered last night in Lahaie Park, Montreal, to kick off the Forty Days for Life prayer vigil for the end of abortion.
Forty Days for Life is a twice annual prayer vigil - one in the spring time and the other in the Fall, begun five years and has grown globally with 316 vigils - 18 of which are on Canadian soil, occurring simultaneously this Fall in six countries.
Here in Montreal, this is our eighth vigil, all of which have been done across the street from the Morgentaler abortion mill.
Last night, the gusty winds of the day died to an imperceptible breeze as men and women recited prayers and listened to four speakers.
After about half hour, the group moved into a basement hall for some libations and received instructions about what etiquette to follow when present at the 40 day vigil site.
Paramount to our vigil is the maintaining a prayerful presence. To this end a code of conduct is given below to help to this end.
Code of Conduct
- I will show compassion and reflect Christ’s love to all.
- I understand that acting in a violent or harmful manner immediately and completely disassociates me from this vigil.
- I will not obstruct the driveways or sidewalk while standing in the public right of way.
- I will not block the abortion facility's entrance nor the path of anyone, including passersby, on the sidewalk; I will remain on the north side of Saint-Joseph Blvd.
- I will not litter on the public right of way.
- I will closely attend to any children I bring to the prayer vigil.
- I will not threaten, physically contact, nor verbally abuse anyone.
- I will not vandalize private property.
- I will cooperate with local city authorities.
- I will not picket nor carry any signs, pictures, displays, nor wear clothing bearing any words or images, without the consent of the organizers.
- I will maintain a spirit of prayer and refrain from judgments, debates and quarrels.
- I will refrain from unnecessary discussion with the public and with the other prayers.
- I will maintain a physical distance from others at the site whose tactics would be considered contrary to these guidelines.
Although our purpose is to pray, we are not adverse to talk with persons not associated with the vigil who approach us to ask questions or make comments. The following may help in these exchanges:
How to Share the Pro-Life Message
What is the pro-life message?
At its most basic level, the pro-life message is this:
An unborn child is a human person
whose life has value and deserves to be protected by our society.
But we also have an important message to share about how abortion harms women – and men – and about how committed the pro-life movement is to helping women face untimely pregnancies and choose life for their babies.
Ultimately, our message is a message of hope. We believe that, working together, we can transform our society into a place in which no mother will ever resort to abortion, where every child, regardless of the circumstances of his or her conception, will be welcomed and loved.
10 Guidelines for sharing the pro-life message
1. Listen – and pay attention;
2. Take time to think – and pray;
3. Always be respectful;
4. Seek common ground;
5. Make it personal;
6. Give the benefit of the doubt, and never take offense;
7. Don’t interrupt others’ conversations;
8. Pick your battles and keep it simple;
9. Admit when you lack information; and
10. Always leave the door open.
Gestational Laws: 2 Articles
Over the past month, I have heard much discussion about gestational laws. A couple of articles have come my way that I have found interesting on this issue. I hope you do also. Here they are.
In the first article, we find the testimony of a former advocate of gestational laws who regrets his earlier involvement. In the second we read abut the Catholic Church's position on it. Enjoy.
Has abortion led to fewer crimes?
Reading Mario Roy in last Friday's Lapresse one would think so.
His commentary focusses upon the diminishing trend in crime not only in Canada but also across North America. In so doing, he quotes from the American study by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner entitled Freakonomics (2005).
He writes:
According to the authors (i.e., Levitt and Dubner) it is the decision in Roe v Wade (The US spereme Court ruling) legalising abortion in 1973 that, fifteen years later, largely contributed to the freefall in crime. And this, in diminishing (there are 1.5 million abortions per year in the United States) the number of undesirable children, often in dysfuncitonal families, and thus fated to a shady future. It is an shocking analysis, yet may not be void of some truth.
Selon les auteurs, c'est l'arrêt Roe v. Wade ayant légalisé l'avortement en 1973 qui, 15 ans plus tard, a largement fait chuter la criminalité. Et ce, en diminuant (1,5 million d'avortements par année aux États-Unis) le nombre d'enfants non désirés, souvent dans des familles dysfonctionnelles, et donc promis à un sombre avenir. C'est une analyse d'une froideur choquante, mais peut-être pas dénuée de vérité.
A couple of things I wish to point out that undersocere this limited analysis of Mr. Levitt and Dubner, and in turn Mr. Roy.
Comparing abortion to the Colorado shooting, and other tragic losses of life: is it right?
Blogger Bryan Kemper - StandTruedotcom, was widely critized for comparing the tragic event in a Colorado theater last week to the on-going tragedy of abortion. The following is his response to these critics.
July 24, 2012 (StandTrue.com) - To answer this question one must first answer the question: what is abortion?
Abortion is simply a word used to describe the action of killing a human person in one of the early stages of that human person’s development, just as shooting is simply a word to describe how the human persons in that Colorado theatre were killed. Both words describe a different method used to end the life of human persons who are all in different stages of their life and development.
In the same way, when I compare the Nazi Holocaust and the Abortion Holocaust, I am showing that they are both horrific events that have claimed the lives of millions of innocent human persons. One took place 70 years ago and one is taking place right now.
I could easily show comparisons to many other events in history such as Columbine, slavery, earthquakes and many more tragic events that have claimed so many innocent lives.
Many people think that I am making these comparisons to show the similarities of the events in question and abortion, but that is not really the case. I am not merely trying to show them as the same thing, I am trying show the horrifying fact that we don’t see them as the same thing.
When I make these comparisons it is because, while I am grieving for the loss of those innocent lives lost in Colorado at that theatre, I am also in pain for the other thousands of innocent human person killed on the same day that so few people are crying for. I am trying to shake this world and make us realize that there are thousands of innocent human persons being murdered in buildings every day around the nation and the media are not there to tell their story.
The Planned Parenthoods and abortion clinics have successfully lulled America into silence about the bloodshed behind their doors. They have convinced so many that this is nothing more that a choice being carried out to help women. They have declared war on women and innocent children in the womb and have disguised it as liberation and freedom.
In carrying out this war on women, the abortion industry has been able to silence the outrage that should be shown towards this abortion massacre. They have been able to mask a horrific and violent action as a healthcare right that needs to be funded by our government.
I will be totally honest here: I do not simply believe I have the right to make these comparisons; I believe I am compelled to make these comparisons. I believe that the blood of 55,000,000 of my fellow Americans who have been massacred by abortionists must be cried for.
(Ed.: Here in Canada, figuring 100,000 deaths per year since the legalization of abortion in 1969, some 43 years ago means 4.3 million Canadians have perished. As for Quebec, where 30% of all abortions are performed, the figure is 1.3 million.)
In my most recent comparison I created a graphic showing the Colorado theatre where the shooting took place alongside a picture of a Planned Parenthood. I said that when 12 people are killed at this theatre it is called a massacre and when 12 people are killed at the Planned Parenthood it is called Choice.
I was not shocked by the responses I got from non-Christians or from pro-abortion people; I was shocked by some of the comments I got from Christians and people who identify themselves as pro-life.
I was told that calling abortion murder is judgmental and as Christians we are not called to judge. I have to ask these people if they are calling what the shooter in the theatre did can be called murder, or is that being judgmental as well?
I was told that it is just too soon to compare things like these because those people just died three days ago. While I am so very saddened by their deaths, I am also saddened that in the four days since that attack in Colorado, almost 16,000 innocent human persons have been killed in abortion clinics. Since January 22 of 1973 over 55,000,000 innocent humans beings have been killed by surgical abortion in America alone. It is not too soon; it is actually long overdue.
I am being told that I am just opportunistic. Yes, I am. I am using this opportunity to bring to the light the senseless and brutal murder of millions of innocent children who deserve to have their deaths mourned. I am using this opportunity to show the hypocrisy of a nation who defends, protects and funds the murder of her own citizens in the name of choice.
This graphic comparison was meant to do many things, and one of those things was to create a buzz and get abortion talked about. It worked. When abortion is being talked about and the truth is being exposed, lives are saved. One of my goals as an abortion abolitionist is to never allow abortion to fade away as a non-topic. My goal is to make it so prevalent and so front and center that this nation and the world are forced to open their eyes and see it for what it truly is. Abortion is an act of homicide and I will take every opportunity to expose this until we see the abolition of the abortion massacre.
Gates’ Contraception Summit To Enrich Abortion and Population Control Groups
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation wants to gather commitments of billions of dollars from heads of state and other leaders for contraceptive programs aimed at poor women. The Gates Foundation also wants governments to help overcome what they consider to be "barriers" to contraceptive use such as parental involvement. These efforts will take place at a Gates-sponsored Family Planning Summit on July 11 in London.
According to a Gates Foundation paper published in conjunction with the government of the United Kingdom, a key goal is permanent government funding for advocates to promote global agreements on sexual and reproductive health services and rights, and to lobby for more money for contraceptive information and services.
Melinda Gates insists the campaign is not associated with abortion or population control. She says is it about enabling women to choose as small or large a family as wanted. Yet the Summit provides no support for maternal or child health, and its primary partners have engaged in forced abortion and sterilization campaigns.
Even Amnesty International fears the campaign will “return to coercive family planning programs.”
The outcome document for the Summit calls on all members of the "global community" – countries, donors, civil society, manufacturers and others – to fund and advocate for family planning for all, including for the unmarried and adolescents.
The Summit’s underlying premise is a so-called “unmet need” for contraception. The concept refers to women not wanting a child immediately and not using contraception for any reason – including infrequent sexual activity, dislike of side effects, or religious objections. According to Harvard professor Lant Pritchett, women who have no expressed desire for contraceptives are reported as needing it. Also women “who require motivation to want what they are presumed to need.”
This broad net capturing women who do not want to use contraception, and may desire children at a later time than when surveyed, explains the Summit’s overbearing intention to use funds to “increase demand” for contraception.
Funds raised by the Summit will also be used to buy and distribute more contraception, presuming that women want contraceptives but cannot obtain them. Yet the World Bank reports, “unmet need should not be equated with the lack of access to contraception . . . women with unmet need may still not have any intention to use contraception were it readily accessible and of good quality.”
In fact, contrary to the two main arguments promoted by family planners, studies show that greater access to contraception does not result in fewer pregnancies or abortions.
Critics fear the Summit’s campaign for contraception will divert funding and staff from struggling health issues that lack powerful advocates, such as medical care for pregnant women.
The tightly-controlled Summit is organized by the UK’s Department for International Development, which has been charged by the Guardian newspaper with funding India’s coerced sterilization program. So tightly is the conference organized that the venue will not be announced until shortly before the meeting commences, and only governments that make pledges can attend. International Planned Parenthood Federation, the largest abortion provider, is mobilizing civil society ahead of the event. Pro-lifers are complaining about the lack of transparency and accountability
An exceptional man: Vietnamese man adopts unwanted children to save them from abortion
Here's a wonderful story of one man's response to the horror of abortion, writen by Jonathon van Maren (Unmaskingchoice.ca)
Tong Phuoc Phuc is an exceptional man, with an exceptional way of dealing with the rampant abortion rate in Vietnam: He adopts the unwanted children. Over fifty of them so far, to be exact.
In Vietnam, abortion is common and practiced at nearly every hospital. Faced with often crippling poverty, women often choose abortion—over 114,000 of them every single year. Faced with the reality that many of these women do not know where to turn and a severe shortage of shelters for pregnant women, Phuc has opened the doors of his home to any mother who needs care and needs a place for her child to stay.
Eight years ago, Phuc promised God that if his wife survived a difficult labour giving birth to their son, he would find some way to help others. According to one article detailing his remarkable story, “As his wife lay recuperating after the difficult birth, he recalls seeing many pregnant women going into the delivery room but always leaving alone. ‘I was wondering, where are the babies?’ he says, cradling an infant in each arm. ‘Then I realized they had abortions.’”
He first began saving money from his wages as a construction contractor to buy a plot of land to bury the unwanted children, picking them up from hospitals and abortion clinics and giving them a proper burial. Everyone, even his wife questioned what he was doing—as of last year, there were “some 7,000 tiny plots dotting the shady hillside, many marked with bright red, pink and yellow artificial roses.”
Post-abortive women began to hear about Phuc’s actions, and came to his little cemetery to pray. When women considering abortions also came to him, he opened his doors and they began moving into his home.
One woman considering abortion talked to Phuc first, and then changed her mind. “She moved into the 904 square foot house soon after and remains there with seven other new or expectant mothers. They spend their days washing, feeding, burping, changing and playing with the babies…It’s a full-time operation that involves Phuc’s entire family. His older sister manages the chaos, mixing vats of strained potatoes and carrots and preparing formula for bottles, while shushing crying babies and chasing crawlers.”
Phuc’s work has begun to draw attention, and donations come in from as far away as the United States. The president of Vietnam has praised him for “caring for women and children scorned by society.” He does not, however, run an orphanage—his goal is to either reunite the babies with their mothers, or raise them as his own children. He has managed to reunite twenty-seven children with their mothers.
It might seem to many people that Phuc’s life is a hard one, but that is not the way he sees it: “I will continue this job until my last breath of life. I will encourage my children to take over to help other people who are underprivileged.”
Truly, this man’s life is a testimony to selflessness. His desire to help others no matter what the personal is an inspiration.
Doesn't he make you want to do likewise? For story and more pictures, click here.
Grieving Reproductive Loss
Yesterday's Journal de Montréal ran a story about a Montreal hospital helping families grieve their perinatal losses.
Isabelle Maher writes that a committee at the Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital, mindful of the helplessness parents feel at the unforeseen death of their child, has set up the Angels' Craddle - "Le Berceau des anges," plot at Laval Cemetery for infants deceased during pregnancy, at birth, or shortly thereafter.
Though inauguration of the site was last week, it has been active for several months, interning thus far twenty or so infants.
One trusts that the Laval site will also comfort parents and individuals grieving other reproductive losses - abortion, adoption, sudden infant death syndrome, infertility, sterility, or life situations which precluded having children.
See related story in Lapresse.
Cornwall March for Life - June 24
Yesterday, I was delighted, and surprised, to be asked if I was organizing a trip to the Cornwall March for Life, set for Sunday, June 24.
I presumed that the caller knew I had just organised trips to both the National March for Life (in Ottawa on May 10) and the Marche Chrétienne (June 2 in Quebec City) and that it was only logical that I do the same in support of a sister organization so close to home. (Cornwall is an hour and half southwest of Montreal along the 401.)
I responded that I would be delighted to do so. Therefore...
Hear Ye! Hear Ye!
You are coordially invited to join me, and two others, Sunday, June 24, in support of the cause of life in Cornwall, ON.
As the walk begins at 1 p.m., we will leave Montreal at about 11 a.m., from a location yet to be assigned.
The walk is about 1.5 km. It will followed Pro-Life Cornwall's Annual General Meeting. Guest Ms. Anastasia Bowles of Life Canada will be on hand to address the assembly.
Give me a call (514-344-2686) and I will see if numbers warrant the need for chartering a bus. Else, we will car pool it, as we did to Quebec City.
I can't think of a better way to celebrate the annual Saint-Jean Baptiste Day than giving it a pro-life spin.
For more information about the day or pro-life events in Cornwall, click Pro-Life Cornwall .
Again travelling the 110 km to Cornwall would take us about an hour and half.
Violence Against Life
Over the past two days, I have been stunned at just how violent those who oppose our pro-life message can get.
First, yesterday I came across a story set in Vancouver. A group travelling across the country promoting an anti-abortion theme kicked off their ride on Tuesday past at the Vancouver Art Gallery.
They were not alone. They faced violence, verbal assault, and public indecency from pro-abortion protesters.
Read the full story and watch a video clip of the violent proceedings here ; learn more about the cross-country caravan here.
In today's news comes a second story of pro-abortion extremism.
Something of a miracle has occurred at the University of Sydney, Australia's oldest university. This past Friday, June 1, in a 6-5 vote the Student Union approved the establishing of a prolife club, the only such club in all of Australia.
Reaction to this decison has been tempestuous. Pro-abortion students are moving to have the board rescind its decison, chatise the union members who voted in favour of the club-status, and change the union's constitution forbidding pro-life groups on campus.
Fortunately a word of reason was heard by the USU Board Director Mina Nada argued: “A diverse union is a healthy union. My fellow directors, I implore you to make a decision which honours the Union’s 138 year old traditions of free expression, free thought and open inquiry. Traditions of which we today are guardians.”