May 19, 2023
Dear Maureen, I’m Pete Baklinski and this is your Canadian Pro-Life News Bits where I let you know what’s happening on our country’s pro-life and pro-family front.
It’s been a week since I returned home from the awesome National March for Life in Ottawa where over 5,000 of us rallied and marched for the preborn. I was delighted to run into many of you on the Hill and at the Rose Dinner!
It was not surprising that legacy media almost ignored the march. They can’t stand it that the biggest annual rally on the Hill is in defence of life in the womb. I was so pleased to see numerous independent outlets cover our May 10 press conference on the Hill and the rally and march the following day. This included Epoch Times (press conference | rally), Rebel News (press conference | rally), LifeSiteNews (here, here, and here), Catholic Register, True North, and LifeNews. Praise God for independent media. They are the only ones amplifying the pro-life voice.
The most important news this week is that a woke, anti-Christian school trustee in Ontario resigned, largely thanks to all of you who signed our petition and who showed up to meetings. This is a true victory for all parents. It shows that when concerned parents come together, change happens. Bravo! You can read CLC’s write-up of this story below.
Debate has begun in the House of Commons over Conservative MP Ed Fast’s bill to prohibit euthanasia for the mentally ill. This very important bill would put the brakes on the Liberal’s planned expansion of MAiD.
Another Canadian city, this time Calgary, passed a bylaw forcing pro-life advocates to put covers on abortion victim photographs that they wish to hand out in mailboxes or leave on front door steps. This is censorship of pro-life speech. It has no place in a healthy democracy.
Finally, pro-family activist Bill Whatcott is again in the courts after Ontario’s Superior Court acquitted him in 2021 of “hate speech” charges only to have The Crown appeal. Please keep Bill and his legal team in your prayers.
The Liberal government has given a euthanasia group over $3 million to help train doctors to kill their patients through MAiD programs. Isn’t it the job of the government to protect its citizens? And yet, here it is dolling out money to train killers. May God have mercy on our country.
Finally, if the news is getting you down, please read the stories from the inspirational section. There is so much good happening. Lives are being saved. People are making sacrifices. There are so many ordinary people, just like you and me, who are accomplishing great things. Jesus has already won the battle. We know the final score. So, press on!
Top Canadian pro-life stories you need to know about
Campaign Life Coalition: Victory! Anti-Christian school board trustee Wendy Ashby resigns
The defiant, anti-Catholic trustee’s resignation comes after more than 3,000 parents sought her removal for calling white Christian males 'the most dangerous creature on the planet.’
Campaign Life Coalition: Lecce promised “back to basics” education with Bill 98. Here’s why you shouldn’t believe him
“Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce suggested that his newly introduced Bill 98 would refocus schools on reading, writing and math. However, it appears that's just an empty slogan to lull voters into thinking this proposed legislation will actually help parents, and its real purpose is take even more control away from parents and concentrate it in the hands of woke government educrats.”
LifeSiteNews: Debate begins over Conservative bill aimed at stopping Trudeau gov’t euthanasia expansion
“Bill C-314 would repeal the expansion of euthanasia laws to those suffering solely from mental illness.”
LifeSiteNews: Maxime Bernier announces he will introduce bill banning late-term abortion if elected in June
“‘Today I am announcing that if elected MP for Portage-Lisgar, I will table at the first available opportunity the Protection of Preborn Children Act,' said Bernier, who himself has a mixed record on life and family issues.”
LifeSiteNews: Campaign Life Coalition urges bishops to excommunicate Trudeau over pro-abortion rhetoric
“‘Why the Bishops of Canada have not yet pronounced this fake Catholic's (Trudeau's) excommunication from the Church is beyond me,' Campaign Life Coalition (CLC) director of political operations Jack Fonseca told LifeSiteNews.”
Rebel News: Campaign Life Coalition forced to remove imagery boards at annual March for Life in Ottawa press conference
“Campaign Life Coalition was settled and ready for the press conference, their imagery boards were up and the speakers were set up. Then, liason officers came to not only ask them to pull down the boards saying that it wasn’t allowed on Parliament Hill but they also removed the microphone and speakers of the CLC team.”
Rebel News: Legacy media widely ignores large turnout of pro-life demonstrators at Victoria’s March for Life
“Speeches covered harms of abortions, child sterilization through medical transitioning, and the growing risk of elderly, disabled people being offered euthanasia at a low moment in their lives thanks to Canada’s rapidly expanding Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) practices.”
LifeSiteNews: City of Calgary sharply restricts pro-life flyers with images of aborted babies
“Pro-life free speech is under attack like never before. Every Canadian, including pro-life Canadians, have the right to freedom of speech as guaranteed by the Charter. No city council can take that right away.”
Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms: Advocacy against gay sex equated to seeking eradication of gay men in hate speech case at Ontario Court of Appeal
This is the next chapter of a “hate speech” case arising from criminal charges against Bill Whatcott, who along with others dressed as “gay zombies”, distributed controversial literature at the 2016 Toronto Pride parade.
Run With Life: Government handouts to euthanize Canadians
“Dying with Dignity and CAMAP are two relatively new charities, whose sole purpose is to support the euthanizing of Canadians. I expect to see these government handouts rise as time goes on.”
Inspiring stories to give you hope
LifeNews: University Installs Pro-Life Monument to Celebrate Lives of Unborn Babies
“World-renowned Canadian sculptor Timothy Schmalz said he created the piece, titled “Advent,” as a National Life Monument to celebrate every human life. The sculpture is a bronze and stainless steel depiction of the Virgin Mary cradling unborn baby Jesus in her womb.”
LifeNews: Doctor Confirms Human Life Begins at Conception and Unborn Babies Have Beating Hearts
“In 1993, when I began medical school at Wake Forest University, one of my first courses was embryology, a course in which all medical students learn in painstaking detail the developmental stages of human life, beginning at fertilization.”
Live Action: Preborn baby girl saved her mother when a bullet nearly killed them both
“The bullet had struck Pleasant’s uterus and Blossom, whom they believe saved Pleasant’s life. ‘Blossom basically blocked the bullet from wounding Harmonese more…She came into this world and saved her mom’s life.”
Live Action: Mom graduates with PhD one day after giving birth: ‘We can do anything’
“One North Carolina mom is showing that women are strong and capable — and that it is possible to pursue a degree, even while pregnant.”
Live Action: First responders retrieve healthy newborn from baby box in Arkansas
“An infant born less than 24 hours prior was surrendered at a Safe Haven Baby Box in Benton, Arkansas, on Tuesday.”
Awesome pro-life social media posts this week
Campaign Life Coalition
Kim Headley
Campaign Life Coalition
Must-see video of the week
Thousands of Canadians Marched for Life in Ottawa on May 11, 2023. Watch Highlights from the rally and the march.
Take Action
Sign our new petition demanding a by-election to replace anti-Christian trustee who resigned. Sign here.
Sign our petition demanding that the Manitoba Legislative Assembly reject bill to make the province an abortion haven for the U.S. Sign here.
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Maureen,
there are some well-meaning pro-life advocates who hold that marching for life is a waste of time, that it won’t accomplish anything, so why bother?
I get it. Sometimes it’s easy to give into a spirit of discouragement, to think that our letter writing, our petitions, our phone calls, our public demonstrations aren’t achieving any noticeable change for the preborn who are targeted for abortion. Have you ever felt this way?
Former abortionist Dr. Haywood Robinson, who spoke at this year’s March for Life and at the Youth Summit the following day, told me that the spirit of discouragement comes from Satan. The Devil likes nothing better than to beat people down who are trying to take a stand on God’s side for life.
Dr. Robinson told me that the Devil is mad when thousands of people show up at an event like to march for life to pray for an end to abortion. The Devil hates it when they go into the public square to prayerfully witness to the value of each and every life created in the image and likeness of God.
He told me that it’s the marchers, not the speakers at the rally, not the important people at the front, who are making the real difference on a spiritual level in this battle.
Dr. Haywood Robinson speaking at the 2023 National March for Life.
“We are fighting against powers and principalities,” he said, quoting a passage from Saint Paul. We fight, he said, by showing up with boots on the ground, by praying, by marching, by making a prayerful, public witness. This, on a spiritual level, is what wins the battle, he said.
So, thank you to all of you who faithfully show up at the March for Life. Your presence at the seat of power in our nation’s capital is needed. Your prayers are needed. And your public witness is needed. It all makes a difference.
One day, we shall live in an abortion-free country. It is your faithfulness that will get us there!
Be bold and daring for life!