A Pro-Life Debut

Hi all,
This is entry number one of what I hope to be many more. The purpose of this blog is to update you, my friends, on the walk across Canada that is being done by myself and by a group of other college-age students. In this blog I will tell you guys about things that have happened to us on the road, people that we have met and talked to, and experiences that we have experienced. I will also include reflections on topics related to abortion and on the trip itself. But without much further ado, I think I’ll begin by telling you guys why I am doing this walk and what I hope it will achieve.

This summer I am walking across Canada for life. That is, I am walking across Canada to spread the message that currently in Canada there is a silent minority that is not only being oppressed, but whose lives are actually being taken away from them before they even have the chance to experience life. I am talking of course about the unborn. Currently in Canada there are no laws that restrict abortion procedures – abortions can take place up to nine months of pregnancy. Abortion is also legal in the States (since 1973) and in countless other countries in the world. What is the net effect of this legalized abortion? Since the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision (sic) in 1973 that legalized abortion, approximately 57 million fetuses have been aborted in North America. Also, about 1 billion (that is, 1,000,000,000) fetuses have been aborted world-wide since this time. Some countries have abortion rates higher than 1 in 2 – that is, every second child conceived is aborted. Now what does this all amount to? What do these dizzyingly high numbers mean? Well, it means that more than ever before, the world has declared a war on life. The world has declared war on life because it has decided to attack life where it begins – in the womb. We commonly hear of deceitful arguments in favor of abortion under the guise of words such as “pro-choice”. But to those among us who buy their clamor for “choice” I ask, what is it exactly that these women are choosing? Is abortion an innocent procedure that does nothing more than remove a clump of cells from the womb? Or does abortion effectively destroy a human life in the earliest stages of development? This is the crucial question, which requires an equally crucial answer – that indeed life in the womb is as valuable and sacred as life outside the womb, regardless of its environment, degree of dependency, level of development or size. At a time when the most defenseless in our society are incapable of defending themselves, when those without a voice literally cannot speak for themselves, pro-lifers must come together and fight, as it were, to defend the dignity and value of human life. We cannot be content with simply not believing in abortion, but must (in our case literally) take to the streets and cry out in a loud voice “abortion destroys human life!” We must defend and promote a culture of life in an effort to fight the culture of death, a culture which blurs the line between good and evil until all becomes a dreary gray.

Thus it is in this spirit that I take to the roads and the highways, keeping in mind those immortal words spoken by the great Pope John Paul II: “do not be afraid”. We will not be afraid, equipped as we are with the true conviction that life is worth defending and protecting. We will not be afraid to defend life where it is being attacked and to fight against the forces which seek to rob the unborn of their value and dignity as human beings.

Now, there are only three days left till we are off. For those who haven’t heard: we are starting off with an initial walk around Stanley Park this Saturday, and we invite all who wish to come out and support and walk with us for that initial 8 km. Send me an email at a_etienne_o@yahoo.ca if you are interested and haven’t yet received information on the initial walk. You can also use this email if at any time you’d like to contact me on the road personally. Now, for the sake of brevity, I will end this post here. I hope that you will take something away from these posts over the next 3 months, and that you will be encouraged also to speak out against abortion whenever the occasion arises. God bless.

For life,
Etienne