20,000 Pro-Life Canadians Join March for Life Against Abortion

International   |   Steven Ertelt   |   May 9, 2013   |   12:42PM   |   Ottawa, Canada

Some 20,000 pro-life Canadians are participating in today’s March for Life to draw attention to opposition to abortion, which has been allowed on demand in Canada since 1969.

Sponsored by the Campaign Life Coalition, tens of thousands of people gathered in Ottawa for the 16th National March for Life to demand legal protection for all human beings from the time of conception to the moment of natural death. The event marks the infamous passing of Trudeau’s Omnibus Bill in 1969 that struck down abortion laws and stripped away protection for Canada’s preborn children.

“Since 1969, millions of preborn children in Canada have been killed by abortion, including sex-selective abortions,” said Jim Hughes, National President of Campaign Life Coalition. “Unlike those who reject legal protection for children in the womb, even if that results in killing future generations of women and girls, the thousands who will march for life believe in the inherent dignity of every human being, born and preborn.”

Along with several parliamentarians, many well-known pro-life leaders will be in attendance, including Cardinal Thomas Collins, Archbishop Gérald Cyprien Lacroix, Primate of Canada; Ottawa’s Archbishop Terrence Prendergast; Reggie Littlejohn, president of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers; Ryan Bomberger, founder of the Radiance Foundation; Rob Parker, founder of the National House of Prayer, and leaders of other faith communities.

“The National March for Life is a testament to the strength and youthfulness of a movement that believes that everyone, no matter how small, how young, and whether male or female, should have the right to life,” said Mary Ellen Douglas, National Organizer for Campaign Life Coalition. “The number of participants at the march has grown each year with almost 20,000 in 2012. We hope many more will attend this year.”

The crowd ranges from college and high school students to senior citizens and includes people with political signs and others with religious symbols signifying their Christian faith.

This year’s theme “End Female Gendercide: ‘It’s a girl’ should not be a death sentence” places a specific emphasis on protecting preborn girls from sex-selective abortion, a growing problem in Canada.

The rally began on Parliament Hill and thousands are marching through downtown today. Almost one thousand young adults have registered to take part in a youth conference on Friday.

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In May 1969, the nation’s Parliament passed Trudeau’s Omnibus Bill that struck down abortion laws and stripped away protection from Canada’s unborn children. Then, in January 1988, the nation’s abortion law was struck down from the Criminal Code by the Supreme Court of Canada resulting in full legal abortion on demand through all nine months of pregnancy.

As a result, there have been more than 4 million abortions in Canada, resulting in the death of babies before birth and injuring countless women.

Canada experienced fewer abortions in 2005 according to its most then-published national figures. Overall, Statistics Canada indicates abortions lowered to 96,815 during that year, a decline of 3.2 percent from the 100,039 in 2004. In 2002, there were 105,154 abortions in Canada compared with a figure of 106,270 in 2001. The number of abortions in Canada peaked in 1997 at 112,000.