December 1, 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.
How about some good news for a change? A Canadian man who recently made international news for seeking euthanasia due to being “homeless” and “hopeless” has penned a book about his experience and how his life changed when people reached out to him with care and concern. His book is titled “Therefore Choose Life—My Journey from Hopelessness to Hope.” It’s already a number-one bestseller on Amazon. While we've been told that the book explores the dark subjects of alcoholism, homelessness, and mental illness, it also radiates with its exploration of God, grace, and hope. I hope to read it soon.
How about some more good news? The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops has come out with a very strong statement against assisted suicide (MAiD) being offered in Catholic healthcare facilities. They state that they “unanimously and unequivocally oppose the performance of either euthanasia or assisted suicide (MAiD) within health organizations with a Catholic identity.” Bravo to the bishops!
And here’s even more good news! An Ontario court has ruled in favour of a teacher who had her presentation shut down at a school board meeting where she was raising concerns about transgender-themed books in the children’s school library. The now-retired teacher Carolyn Burjoski called it a “significant victory and vindication, not just for me, but for everyone who dares to voice their valid concerns publicly.”
How about one more piece of good news? An NDP motion in Ontario to provide universal access to all prescription contraception, which is known to be abortifacient, was voted down at Queen’s Park on Thursday. Thank you, God! CLC ran a campaign opposing this motion and many of you contacted your MPP to tell them to vote against this motion. Thank you for your efforts. They worked!
On a more sombre note, Canadian pro-life investigator Patricia Maloney has discovered more evidence of hundreds of Canadian babies in the past five years who were born alive after botched abortions and left to die. These babies, according to Canadian law, are legally human persons since they have come out of the womb in a living state. They are therefore owed certain legal rights, including the “right to life, liberty, and security of the person” as guaranteed by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Their deaths are therefore homicides and must be investigated by police.
Do you need more convincing that transgender ideology erases real women? Look no further than the story about a Canadian female powerlifter’s exhibit at an Ontario museum being scrubbed after she raised her voice against males who claim to be female participating in women’s sports.
Finally, don’t miss my reflection at the end about some of the moral problems with using IVF to deal with fertility problems.
Top Canadian pro-life stories you need to know about
Campaign Life Coalition: Ask Doug Ford & MPPs to oppose the funding of contraception
“The NDP is pushing a controversial motion to have the Ontario Health Insurance Plan cover the cost of all prescription contraceptives, including oral hormone pills, IUDs, implants and the abortifacient drug called Plan B. For reasons I’ll explain, Campaign Life Coalition opposes this idea which both wastes scarce health care dollars on sexual-political virtue signaling, and disrespects God's plan for love and procreation.”
Campaign Life Coalition: Helping mothers in Canada's Far North
“The Nunavut Initiative has helped more than 150 families in four different communities over the past two years, but, if we don’t get more funding, we won’t be able to keep it running over the next 12 months.”
Campaign Life Coalition: Catholic school trustee promotes anti-Catholic ideology
“A dissident Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) trustee has just taken another step into the abyss of heresy by promoting child-abusive, transgender ideology.”
Run With Life: 410 live-birth abortions in Canada from 2018 to 2022
“Statistics Canada continues to report live birth abortions. There were 410 of them from 2018 to 2022. Code is P96.4 Termination of pregnancy affecting fetus and newborn.”
Cardus: Climate change concerns not a major factor in Canadian women’s family size decision
“Women who expressed worry about climate change also generally had lower fertility ideals, a smaller reduction in fertility intentions, and no significant difference in actual fertility behaviours compared to those who did not have this worry. This suggests that climate-change worries are not a major determinant of Canadian fertility behaviours.”
Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops: Canadian Bishops ‘unanimously and unequivocally oppose’ MAiD within health organizations with a Catholic identity
“The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, unanimously and unequivocally oppose the performance of either euthanasia or assisted suicide (MAiD) within health organizations with a Catholic identity. We oppose any efforts by governments or others to compel such facilities to perform MAiD in violation of Catholic teachings.[6] Anything to the contrary would deeply betray the identity of these institutions as Catholic and would not be in keeping with the Church’s moral teachings on the sanctity of life and the dignity of the human person.”
LifeSiteNews: Conservative MP Leslyn Lewis condemns MAiD in Parliament as targeting nation’s most vulnerable
“Lewis condemned the Trudeau government’s treatment of Canada’s most vulnerable, revealing that 36 Canadians are euthanized every day.”
Euthanasia Prevention Coalition: Homeless Canadian who sought euthanasia becomes Amazon bestselling author with book about choosing life
“Earlier this year, Tyler Dunlop gained international attention for all the wrong reasons. He was the ‘Homeless, hopeless Orillia man’ who was seeking euthanasia. Now, he hopes to make a similar impact for all the right reasons. On November 17th, his book Therefore Choose Life—My Journey from Hopelessness to Hope is being published just in time for Christmas.”
Catholic Register: MAiD being forced upon Montreal Catholic hospice
“A Montreal hospice is under pressure to perform medical assistance in dying (MAiD) contrary to the legal agreement between the Archdiocese of Montreal and the hospice.”
“A museum in London, Ontario, has removed a female powerlifter from an exhibit on resilience in apparent retaliation for her vocal opposition to males participating in women’s sports.”
National Post: Court victory for teacher silenced for transgender-book criticism
“An Ontario judge has declared that human rights legislation “does not prohibit public discussion of anything,” in a free-speech victory for a teacher who was shut down when she raised concerns at a school board meeting about transgender-themed books in elementary school libraries.”
Western Standard: Alberta town proposes bylaw to restrict Pride flags, crosswalks
On Monday, Westlock town council decided to let the residents vote on the potential bylaw to restrict Pride flags and crosswalks in favour of displaying only municipal, provincial and federal insignia.
CLC podcasts
Focused on Life Podcast: Episode 7: Maternal Health – What’s abortion got to do with it?
“Episode 7 is out – Uju and I discuss Maternal Health and the solutions to ending maternal mortality. These solutions are all within reach and abortion is NOT one of them! – Matt.” Find and listen to all episodes here.
Womb with a View: Episode 4: Things Pro-Choicers Say In Our Comment Section
“This week, we discuss pro-choice dialogue on social media and read/respond to various comments we've received on our pro-life social media platforms!”
Inspiring stories to give you hope
Life News: 49 Abortion Centers Closed This Year, Now 14 States are Abortion-Free
“Operation Rescue’s 2022 annual survey revealed a colossal 88 abortion clinic closures. In 2023, another 49 abortion clinics closed or halted abortions, for a total of 137 clinic closures in the last two years.”
Life News: Overturning Roe v. Wade Has Already Saved 32,000 Babies From Abortion
“A recent study revealed that abortion bans have saved over 32,000 babies from abortions in the first half of 2023 alone.”
Live Action: Heroic 14-year-old girl saves baby from house fire
“A 14-year-old girl is being praised as a hero after she saved a baby from a sudden house fire.”
Live Action: Mom of NICU preemie inspired to become NICU nurse: ‘I get to witness miracles’
“One NICU nurse in Tennessee has made it her mission to connect with and help her patients, because her unique nursing story started in the very same NICU department.”
Awesome pro-life social media posts this week
Judie Brown
Campaign Life Coalition
Abby Johnson
Must-see video of the week
Doctors wanted to end her life before birth, but her parents refused: Erin and Kyle were 19 weeks pregnant when Erin was rushed to the hospital at risk of hemorrhaging. Doctors told them abortion was the best option. Instead, the parents sought out a doctor who would care for BOTH mother and child. Thanks to the life-affirming care they found, their daughter just celebrated her fourth birthday.
Take Action
Sign our petition asking the RCMP to investigate deaths of babies born alive after failed abortion. Sign here.
If you live in or near Red Deer, Alberta, please sign our new petition calling for the resignation of the Trustees of Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools who attacked democracy by 'un-electing' a trustee for opposing gender ideology. Tap here to sign.
+++
Maureen, have you ever been tempted to support IVF because someone you know and love has fertility issues and IVF seems like the only way forward for them? I've been thinking about this issue for a while and here are some of my thoughts.
When someone is having fertility issues, trying to fix the problem for the sake of having children is certainly something good to strive for. But, the means employed must also be morally good. A morally good means to fix fertility issues would include using Napro Technology to address the underlying reasons for infertility.
The means to the end of having a child becomes immoral when it goes outside of God’s moral order. This would include kidnapping someone else’s child and claiming it as your own, committing adultery with someone who is fertile for the sake of procuring a child, or raping someone to procure a child. It also includes using IVF, where a child is created using the sperm and egg of a husband and wife outside of the marital embrace.
Why is IVF immoral? Because persons deserve to be co-created by a man and woman through an act of love just as God calls each person into being through an act of love. The love between a husband and wife in the marital embrace that co-creates a new person imitates God’s own act of love in creating that person. Persons are meant to be called into being through love.
To bring a person into being through technological means using IVF is to reduce the person to a “product of technology” instead of treating them as a personal being created in love. This reduction of the person to “product of technology” is a grave evil committed against the person conceived in this way who has the natural right to be conceived by means of the loving embrace of his parents.
For an act to be moral, there must be a good end and a good means. Since IVF employs the immoral means of creating a personal being outside of a loving marital embrace, the practice of IVF is evil for everyone who participates in it. The children created in this way are in no way evil, just as a child conceived in adultery, fornication, or rape is not evil. Children conceived by evil means are an example of how God can work all things, including evil acts, for good.
Furthermore, an additional moral problem with IVF is the fact that multiple human beings are created in each IVF procedure. Only one or two are selected to be implanted in the mother’s womb. The rest are either frozen are discarded. The price of every successful IVF procedure is the indeterminate fate or death of 10-20 tiny human beings.
As moral theologian E. Christian Brugger points out: “IVF clinics are places of unspeakable evil. Although embryos are tiny, easily manipulated and bloodlessly killed, don’t let appearances fool you. These businesses are homicide factories.”
Pro-life advocates must unequivocally oppose IVF because it's an immoral way of bringing new life into the world.
Be bold and daring for life!
Pete Baklinski
Director of Communications
Campaign Life Coalition