By Kate Dewhurst

LAST YEAR in B.C. an estimated 15,110 unborn babies were aborted. That’s approximately 41 abortions every day.

The pro-choice voice is strong, and many believe that the likelihood abortion will be outlawed one day is slim. Is there any hope for change through a pro-life protest on the lawn of the Legislature in Victoria?  

Hope was in the air May 13, as more than 2,000 peaceful demonstrators of all ages stood up for the unborn, at the third annual B.C. March for Life.

They marched under a brilliant sun, through tourist-lined streets – from Centennial Square to the Provincial Legislature. They carried signs and banners with slogans such as:"‘We Choose Life,’ ‘Defend Life’ and ‘Think Adoption, Not Abortion.’ The theme of the event, organized by numerous B.C. pro-life groups, was ‘Life, the First Human Right.’

“We seek to influence our elected officials to restore full legal protections for all human life, to promote a culture where all lives are treated as sacred and valued, and to counter the culture of death with love,” said Renee Schmitz, western director of the National Campus Life Network.

Following the march, David Monroe, Bishop of Kamloops, opened an hour-long rally at the Legislature with prayer.  

He encouraged the crowd, in the words of St. Francis, to see themselves as God’s instruments.  

Rachel Daniels, a mother with a heart to see women embrace the true feminine spirit God has implanted in them, spoke powerfully about a new form of feminism. “True feminism is to bear witness to life. True feminism is to choose life.”

She urged the crowd not to judge women in difficult circumstances, but to walk a mile in their shoes. “Every woman contemplating abortion needs to be shown that her femininity is astounding,” she said. “And even if she does not choose life . . . . we, as pro-life people, will still uphold her dignity as a woman: a feminine genius.”

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Minerva Macapagal, a student at Capilano University and president of the campus pro-life group, reminded the marchers that expressing opposition to abortion can be very difficult.  

“It won’t be easy,” she said. “You will not be liked. Your voice may be the only one.”  

Speaker Jose Ruba of the Canadian Centre for Bioethical Reform, simplified the pro-life argument.

“Abortion is a choice,” he said. “If it’s just getting rid of dandruff or skin, there’s no problem; but if abortion takes a human life, then no defence is adequate.”

Rev. Dr. Robert Fitterer of Emmanuel Baptist Church, the lone evangelical on the mainly Catholic speakers’ panel, called on the young people at the rally to “honour your bodies, marry your lovers and protect all children.”

More than 100,000 Canadian lives are lost through abortion every year. Since 1988, abortion has been legal in all nine months of pregnancy. According to B.C. Ministry of Health statistics, the 15,110 abortions in the 2009/2010 fiscal year carried a cost of $2,078,950.77.

Asked why it’s important for Christians to participate in the event, Daniels told BCCN: “I think it’s all part of our witness. The dignity of life needs to be protected,” she said.

“People on Government Street were giving us thumbs up and thumbs down; but no matter the response, we really were a witness for the sanctity of life. Plus, some day, it will change.”      

Even if abortion policy doesn’t change, Fitterer explained why the march matters.

“If the March for Life goes on for 100 years with no results, it will not have been futile,” he said. “Its purpose is to be a witness for the truth – and its only failure would be to give up that cause.”

June 2010