Sunday, 4 October is International Life Chain Sunday. As many as a million Christians in approximately 1 800 locations worldwide have participated in Life Chains previously. A National March for Life organised by the National Alliance for Life (NAL) is planned in Durban and Life Chains are planned in 3 other cities in South Africa: Bloemfontein, East London and Cape Town.
The NAL is a loose affiliation of churches and organisations, formed in 1995. Details of the National March for Life and Life Chains are listed below.
The Christian pro-life stance, that abortion is murder, is based on the fact that the Bible and medical science make clear: life begins at conception.
The Life Chains recognise the abortion holocaust as one of the greatest evils being committed in the world today.
“After weeks of reeling from the most macabre revelations of the Center for Medical Progress’s undercover videos — from talk of ‘less crunchy’ abortions, to the news that ‘a lot of people want liver,’ to clinic employees staring at dismembered human remains and exclaiming ‘another boy’ — Planned Parenthood’s defenders are launching their counterattacks. But there is simply no defense for mass murder -Planned Parenthood systematically and brutally kills children by the hundreds of thousands, and it uses tax payers’ money to do it.”
“One can only wonder if abortionists in South Africa are also involved in the trafficking of baby body parts for profit,” asks Taryn Hodgson, International Co-ordinator of the Christian Action Network.
“Pro-life groups uphold the sanctity of life – that every life is valuable to God. We provide women with real choices (alternatives) and loving support, not just one choice – abortion – that pro-abortionists coerce women into choosing.”
“Life begins at conception. The pre-born baby is then genetically, physiologically and organically a distinct person. At about three weeks after conception the baby’s heartbeat can be detected. Six weeks after conception the baby has its own lifelong brainwave.”
“When a nation devalues it’s most helpless and innocent citizens and allows them to be slaughtered in their millions, it is no wonder that all other life is treated as cheap. It is an urgent priority for the Church to expose, oppose, and end this genocide of children made in the image of God.”
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The South African statistics behind the Christian Action Network leaders’ strong words are:
- 90 000 abortions were performed at state hospitals in 2013, up by 20 000 from 2012 (“Teenage Abortion Numbers Shoot Up”, The Times, 6 August 2014).
- Most of them, 54 000 or 60% were teenagers (“Teenage Abortion Numbers Shoot Up”, The Times, 6 August 2014).
- Of the 37 000 abortions at Marie Stopes abortuaries in South Africa in 2013, 8% of them were performed on teenagers. (Marie Stopes Communications Manager, Andrea Thompson, quoted in “Teenage Abortion Numbers Shoot Up”, The Times, 6 August 2014).
- Combining the statistics given for state hospitals and Marie Stopes abortuaries, means that there were approximately 127 000 abortions in 2013.
- There are an estimated 6 legal abortions per 1 000 women, and 38 illegal abortions per 1 000 women per year. (National Health Department, according to report in the Sowetan Live, 12 June 2012).
The Christian Action Network believes that the number of legal abortions is higher than the official amount – due to outstanding statistics from some provinces in previous years and a possible failure of some hospital officials to accurately record abortions in state hospitals. (The Christian Action Network estimates the number of babies killed by legal abortions since 1997 to be well over 1 200 000.)
The Christian Action Network will be urging pro-lifers at NAL and at the Cape Town Life Chain to lay charges against illegal abortionists at their local police station. A form detailing how illegal abortions violate both the Termination of Pregnancy Act and Medicines Act has been drafted for this purpose and can be downloaded here.
The Life Chain is an international prayer rally and peaceful placard protest against the abortion holocaust.
Gifts, such as baby items, in support of Kwasizabantu Mission will be collected at the Cape Town Life Chain.
Country-Wide Life Chains
Cape Town: Sunday 4 October, 2:00 – 4:00pm. Buitengracht Street, near entrance to Waterfront. Contact: Africa Christian Action: 021 -689 4480 or [email protected], 072 215 4801.
40 Days for Life – Cape Town – 40 day prayer vigil outside Maries Stopes abortuary, 91 Bree Street, Cape Town. Wednesday, 23 September to Sunday, 01 November 2015. Contact Colette Thomas: [email protected], 083 412 4936.
Durban: Sunday, 4 October, National March for Life, 2:30 – 5:00pm, corner of Centenary Blvd and Zenith Drive, near Gateway Mall, Umhlanga. Organised by the National Alliance for Life, Contact: [email protected] , media spokesman: Vaughan Luck: 078 748 9884. Zulu spokeswoman: Sbongile – 079 906 0153.
East London: Saturday, 3 October: 11:00-12:00, corner of Oxford Street and St Mathew’s Roads. Contact Frans: 082 774 6649.
Christian Action Network members have been campaigning for the right to life of pre-born babies since 1991.
For further details contact Christian Action Network International Co-ordinator, Taryn Hodgson: (021) 689 4480 or 072 215 4801 or E-mail: [email protected].
