A coast to coast toast to life

Victoria, Ottawa crowds call abortion, euthanasia human rights issues

By Deborah Gyapong and Chris Miller, Western Catholic Reporter
OTTAWA (CCN)

Despite driving rain and howling winds, the National March for Life May 14 drew more than 12,000 people.

The largest crowd in its 12-year history, 4,000 more than last year's record-breaking numbers, came out for Exodus 2009, as it was called. This is the 40th anniversary of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's bill that decriminalized abortion, paving the way for abortion on demand.

On the steps to the Peace Tower Cardinal Marc Ouellet of Quebec called upon parliamentarians to address the juridical void that leaves abortion permissible right through nine months of pregnancy. He called on all to build a culture of life that guards the family and welcomes human life.

We are all responsible for the respect for human rights in our land, he said, especially the rights of the most fragile: infants in the womb, the elderly, and the handicapped.

While countries are addressing a huge financial crisis, he said, it is time to address the moral crisis. The time has come to find justice for victims and make a culture of life.

"The right to life is a question of justice," said Archbishop Thomas Collins of Toronto. He compared the gathering to previous movements to put an end to slavery and to gain civil rights for black people.

"We have a right to speak in a public conversation," he said. "We must engage in the public conversation on justice."

Archbishop Collins stressed the value of life from conception until natural death, and he lamented the growing push for euthanasia and doctor-assisted suicide.

Pressure to silence pro-life voices was one of the themes of several speakers, including about a dozen members of the Parliamentary Pro-life Caucus.

"Every year they attempt to suppress us," said Caucus chairman MP Rod Bruinooge, "but 10,000 people show up on Parliament Hill to show that we are not going away." He said those who are uncomfortable with the pro-life position "want to suppress the truth."

In a news conference earlier in the day Bruinooge had spoken of an "alarming increase" in cases where the pro-life groups have had their freedom of speech denied. These include pro-life groups being refused club status on university campuses and LifeCanada's advertising campaign being shut down.

Conservative MP Jeff Watson said the face of the pro-life movement is changing with the change in generations.

Born in 1971, Watson said he was the son of a teenage woman who gave him up for adoption. "For every seven of us, three never make it out of the womb," he said. "My generation has paid a steep and human price."

"It is not enough to want abortion to become illegal," he said. "We must assure that to all Canadians, abortion becomes unthinkable."

Ottawa was not the only capital with a March for Life. Victoria's was held the same day (see stories, photos, Pages 10 and 11).

Archbishop Richard Smith of Edmonton told that city's second annual March for Life, "To those that we have elected to make just laws that will protect all citizens, we must state clearly that the absence of any law to protect the unborn child is unacceptable and must be rectified."

About 400 people, a similar crowd to last year's inaugural event, took part in the May 7 march.

Eparch David Motiuk of Edmonton, Bishop Fred Henry of Calgary, and Bishop Luc Bouchard of St. Paul were also in attendance. Participants marched six km from the provincial legislature to city hall and back again. The Canadian flag on the steps of the legislature was at half mast, in remembrance of aborted babies.

Bishop Henry called the 20th century "one of the most violent in human history." That violence can be seen, he said, not only in world wars and terrorist attacks, but also in anti-life legislation such as the 1969 legalization of abortion, embryonic stem-cell research, euthanasia, assisted suicide, and modern reproductive technology.

He challenged the claim of some that the state should not legislate morality. "Let me remind all of you that we legislate morality all the time. We have laws against murder, against rape, against physical and sexual assault, against theft, against libel and slander.

Being neutral on abortion is impossible, Bishop Henry said; one will either defend human life or attack it. Abortion is not a question of faith vs. science and reason; science says a fetus is alive.

"All that is needed is time to grow. Clearly the legalist's view of the pre-born child as a simple extension of the mother is no longer valid in any shape or form."