Younger people now involved in March for Life

By DEBORAH GYAPONG

OTTAWA (CCN) -- Activities for this year's 10th annual March for Life May 9-11 in Ottawa will include the producer and lead actor in the award-winning film Bella as keynote speakers at the sold-out Rose Dinner.

Bella won the People's Choice Award at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival. Producer Lee Severino and actor Eduardo Verastegui are co-owners of Metanoia Films, a company that aims to inspire people and change lives.

The annual march is making a positive impact, according to Campaign Life Coalition (CLC) President Jim Hughes. Since the CLC organized the first march in 1997, younger people have become involved in the pro-life movement, awareness of fetal life has increased, and Canada's low birth rate has caused examination of the role of abortion.

"Thank God, they do appear to be turning around," he said in a telephone interview. Last year, the majority of the approximately 6,000 marchers were under 25, all born since Canada adopted a permissive abortion law in 1969.

About three-quarters of the 100,000 marchers in January's March for Life in Washington were under 25 and a "force to be reckoned with." Those advocating abortion rights, he said, "were all aging white women."

Scientific advances have also revealed the unborn child's life within the womb.

"Technology has made it possible to understand prenatal life much more," said Catholic Civil Rights League (CCRL) executive director Joanne McGarry in a telephone interview. "A fetus can get a blood transfusion."

The CCRL became a co-sponsor of the march about three years ago.

McGarry also pointed to the recent U.S. Supreme Court upholding of the ban against partial-birth abortions.

"The right to life from conception to natural death is the most fundamental of human rights," she said. The CCRL has been at the forefront of battles concerning bubble zones restricting freedom of speech around abortion clinics, in addition to its fights to protect traditional marriage and religious freedom.

Hughes said the partial-birth abortion court victory in the United States could prompt Canadians to look at some incremental strategies to limit abortion.

The gains are balanced by growing efforts by abortion rights groups to stifle dissent, especially on college campuses. McGarry pointed to a recent National Post column referring to a memo issued by a CUPE local in Hamilton, Ont., that told members they had the right to refuse "unsafe working conditions" that might be created by a "Silent no More" display put up March 29 by members of Lifeline at McMaster University. Other Lifeline groups have been refused club status on campuses such as UBC Okanagan and Carleton University, though the Carleton group did later get provisional status.

"Pro-choice people are not content with having the legal climate law on their side," McGarry said. "Now they just want to stifle any and all opposition."

Hughes said attempts to stifle pro-life free speech animate the gag laws restricting third-party advertisements during elections, and the parachuting of candidates into ridings to override the influence of pro-life voters. He warned that the push for proportional representation could dilute pro-life influence because parties could appoint candidates who ignore the concerns of pro-life voters.

Sex selection lets us `snuff out the girls'

McGarry also warned of the growing use of abortion for sex selection. Once you have established the issue is a woman's right to choose, "someone's going to choose to snuff out the girls," she said. "We have only suggestive proof in Canada that this is happening, but we have definite proof that this is happening in some Asian countries, to the point of a population imbalance."

The march, which takes place every year in early May, marks the May 14, 1969, passage of the Trudeau government's omnibus bill liberalizing Canada's abortion law, after the Supreme Court in 1988 had struck down the previous law, leaving Canada with no restrictions on abortion.

This year's march is to start with the Mass at 7:30 p.m. May 9, followed by a candlelight vigil at the Human Rights monument, and an all-night adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

On Thursday, March 10, at 10 a.m. Father Frank Pavone, U.S. national director of Priests for Life, will offer the Mass at St. Patrick's Basilica, 281 Nepean St. in Ottawa.

At noon, marchers will gather on the lawn of Parliament Hill for the march. The annual Rose Dinner will take place that evening at the Hampton Inn at 100 Coventry Road, Ottawa. On Friday, May 11, Father Pavone will lead a youth conference at the Hampton Inn. Last year's youth event was sold out.

More details are available at www.campaignlifecoalition.com.