Abortionists attempt to crash opening ceremony at Vancouver Art Gallery
By Nathan Rumohr
The B.C. Catholic
VANCOUVER

Life and death met at the Vancouver Art Gallery May 29, as the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform (CCBR) launched the “New Abortion Caravan” campaign with a rally in front of about 100 pro-lifers. About 40 pro-abortion protesters booed, chanted, cat-called, and shouted profanities during the opening ceremony.

“The New Abortion Caravan is a vision for an abortion-free Canada,” said Stephanie Gray, executive director of the CCBR. “In this vision there would only be unborn children growing safely in their mother’s wombs, and no more butchered children.”

She said she envisions everyone living up to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which states, “Everyone has a right to life.”

“But vision is only a dream; we are currently living in a nightmare,” she continued, listing several B.C. abortion facilities; the 40 pro-abortion protesters cheered.

“While we stand here today children are being carried to their deaths across the country. Almost 300 will be killed today: dismembered, decapitated, and disemboweled simply because of where they are or how old they are.”

Gray quoted Martin Luther King, who said racism against blacks in the U.S. during the 1960s was like a boil that could never be cured as long as it was covered up.

Gray said the injustice of abortion was like a boil which must be exposed to the natural medicines of air and light.

The CCBR hopes the “New Abortion Caravan” will do for life what the original “Abortion Caravan” did for choice back in 1970. Gray said the original caravan enabled pro-abortionists to turn public opinion on the issue.

The feminist organizers of the caravan stopped in city after city en route to Ottawa protesting for their “rights” while also acting out back-alley abortions.

Once the caravan reached Ottawa the women burned an effigy of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, shut down parliament by chaining themselves to chairs inside, and delivered a casket full of coat hangers to the prime minister’s house. The caravan ended on Mother’s Day to frame the abortion debate as a “women’s rights issue.”

The “New Caravan” will travel the country in several cube vans painted with images of aborted fetuses. The organizers will conduct rallies, mail postcards with abortion images, and lead talks before ending the tour in Ottawa on Canada Day.

“We are retracing the original caravan’s steps but ending the campaign on Canada Day to correctly frame the abortion debate as a matter of human rights,” Gray said.

Joining Gray and the CCBR staff at the Vancouver rally were Dr. Alexander Moens, a professor of political science at SFU; Mike Schouten, of We Need A Law; and Mark Donnelly, who sings the national anthem at Vancouver Canucks games. The singer, the music director at Holy Family Parish, led the crowd in the singing of O Canada.

Donnelly was a late edition to the rally because he initially thought the Canucks would still be involved in playoff hockey.

“I would like to say that this rally is for all of Canada,” Donnelly said before singing the anthem. “Remember, if we can’t discuss things rationally then we’re not Canadians; we have to be able to talk.”

As Donnelly sang, pro-abortion protesters shouted “shame” and “this is not a Canadian issue,” a statement Dr. Moens disagreed with in his talk.

“If you are speaking for the unborn you are a Canadian, not an extremist,” he said. “You are actually bringing common-sense values to this country.”

Schouten said everyone knows abortion is unethical. He compared the issue to the anti-smoking campaign. He said he quit smoking 10 years ago because the government mandated graphic images on the sides of cigarette packages.

He said if abortion was portrayed in the same way as cigarette packages the country would think twice about the issue.

“If Canadians saw abortion the way it is they would want something done,” he said.

A pro-abortion supporter agreed that abortion is terrible but said groups like the CCBR and other pro-life groups spread misinformation.

She said U.S. groups similar to the CCBR have successfully lobbied for personhood laws that she said are misused. While she agreed that Canada’s current abortion regulation isn’t perfect, she doesn’t trust the Conservative government with instituting abortion regulation.

“I would love it if one day there could be a debate, but with the anti-woman stance taken by the Harper government, and the way the personhood laws have been applied in the States, I would be too suspicious if that door was opened.”

But she said she would trust a debate on personhood if the NDP was in power.

For a list of the New Abortion Caravan tour click here.

nrumohr@rcav.org