November 3, 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.
Last week I teased in my reflection a report I was in the middle of penning about a wrong-headed approach to increasing our country’s beleaguered population. Did you know our birthrate is in free fall and our civilization is quickly plummeting towards extinction? Some think massive immigration is the key to survival. But there are many reasons why this is not a good solution. One overlooked solution is staring us in the face: banning abortion, getting our population off of contraception, and creating incentives, like Hungary does, for people to have more children. You can read all about this in my report below.
There are a few stories this week about the insanity happening in our country because we’ve lost hold of the truth that God creates humans as male or female and one cannot become the other. Those who bravely oppose transgender ideology today suffer various persecutions, from losing their job, being dragged before human rights courts, or facing lawsuits for engaging in “hate speech.” Who ever thought that we’d live in a time where the biblical truth that “male and female he created them” would be so contested and opposed?
The November edition of CLC National News is now online. It’s a great way to catch up on the most important pro-life-and-family stories in our country.
Finally, don’t miss my reflection at the end about a moving video of a New York police officer desperately trying to convince someone not to jump from a bridge and commit suicide.
Top Canadian pro-life stories you need to know about
Campaign Life Coalition: Increasing Canada’s population to 100M by 2100? Banning abortion would help
"A country that aborts its children is killing its future."
Campaign Life Coalition: An amazing opportunity with the UCP’s AGM
“One of the resolutions up for debate is a policy to support legislation like what Saskatchewan just passed, to require schools to obtain parental consent before minor children can impersonate the opposite sex during school hours! We must not fail to pass this as official UCP policy!” Read CLC’s voting recommendations for the UCP’s Board of Directors here.
LifeSiteNews: Ontario city councillor’s pay suspended for advocating against ‘pride’ flag, drag shows for kids
“On October 23, the Pickering City Council in Pickering, Ontario unanimously voted to suspend Robinson’s pay over her motions opposing LGBT ideology.”
Rebel News: Swim competition allows a 50-year-old biological male to swim with 13 year-old girls
“Sure, a 50-year-old man swimming against teenage girls is outrageous and egregious. But in the eyes of the woke sporting associations, this perversity is no doubt an example of diversity, equity, and inclusion. And if you have a problem with that, well, you will be duly penalized.”
LifeSiteNews: Canadian nurse faces fourth disciplinary hearing for comments opposing transgenderism
“A Canadian nurse is facing her fourth disciplinary hearing with the British Columbia College of Nurses and Midwives (BCCNM) over her comments defending biological women against LGBT ideology.”
Rebel News: B.C. grandma sues Chilliwack school board for censoring concerned parents over sex activism in schools
“Controversy has once again hit Chilliwack, British Columbia's school board, as a grandmother is suing the board for censoring her during a meeting.”
New York Sun: Are Canada’s Skyrocketing Assisted Suicide Death Rates a Harbinger for America?
“Canadian medical professionals will soon ‘be able to legally abandon mentally ill and depressed people to their illness and despair, offering to kill them as the “treatment” for their problems,’ Canada’s Campaign Life Coalition tells the Sun. “I caution American states not to allow euthanasia for any reason, not even for the terminally ill,” the group’s president, Jeff Gunnarson, says. ‘Because, inexorably, the killing will expand, and eventually, your situation will resemble Canada’s.’
November CLC National News now available
The November edition of CLC National News, our monthly newsletter, is now available on our website here. Don’t miss these stories, including:
Life Chain: BIGGEST one yet!
Bill to ban killing mentally ill defeated
Sask. Premier uses Notwithstanding Clause to defend parental rights
Manitoba elects anti-life NDP
Rate of Quebec euthanasia deaths the highest in the world
Pro-family activist Bill Whatcott to be dragged through courts again
Pro-life activism in Quebec
Ontario Catholic school board votes to censor parent delegations
Pro-life apologetics: How to answer pro-abortion claim that abortion is simply getting rid of a clump of cells.
Don’t miss CLC president Jeff Gunnarson’s November letter to pro-lifers about putting out into the deep and letting down our nets for a pro-life catch. Read Jeff’s full letter here.
Inspiring stories to give you hope
LifeNews: Adoption is Better Than Abortion, I Know Because I Was Adopted
“No one is better off dead. We’re all better off loved.”
LifeNews: They Told Kathy Ireland Being Pro-Life Would “Kill Her Career,” But She’s Still Fighting Abortion
“The science of fetal development is responsible for changing countless hearts and minds on the issue of abortion. Supermodel Kathy Ireland is no exception.”
Live Action: Mom fights for baby with life-limiting diagnosis, who is now thriving: ‘I didn’t think twice’
“When Florida mom Andi Mahoney was 20 weeks pregnant, she was given devastating news: her preborn daughter, Emmie, had a condition called bilateral renal agenesis. The condition meant Emmie didn’t have kidneys — and therefore, doctors said, had no chance of surviving past birth.”
Epoch Times: One-in-a-Million: Louisiana Couple Welcomes Rare, Naturally Conceived Identical Triplets
“A Louisiana couple has welcomed rare, naturally conceived identical triplets, making them the first set of multiples on either side of their family.”
Awesome pro-life social media posts this week
Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform
Students for Life of America
Shawn Carney
Must-see video of the week
Religious sister shares incredible message on how to end abortion: Sr. Bethany Madonna of the Sisters of Life said at Live Action’s Sept. 2023 Life Award ceremony that the world needs to experience God’s love to drive out fears that are at the root of every decision against life.
Take Action
If you live in Alberta, please use our online Action Alert platform to send a message to your MLA asking them to follow the lead of Saskatchewan by passing a bulletproof Parents’ Bill of Rights. Tap here.
Sign our new petition asking Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew to steer clear of enacting ‘bubble zone’ legislation. Tap here to add your name.
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Maureen, I was deeply moved by the body-cam video of a New York police officer passionately pleading with a man to not jump from a tall bridge to his death.
“Please listen to my voice. I love you, brother, I care for you,” the officer implored as the man hung at the edge of the bridge, preparing to let himself go and plunge to his death.
“I’m here for you brother. You have my shoulder. Lean on my shoulder brother,” the officer begged in the October 5th video.
As the officer pleaded with the man, rescue crew could be seen inching their way along the edge of the bridge in a bid to get to the man before it was too late.
The officer continued speaking directly to the man. “I promise you that we’re going to be fighting together. I promise you that I will give you the services that you need. I love you, brother, I love you.”
“Life is beautiful, brother. The sun is beautiful, brother…Please don’t give up on me, brother.”
By this time, the rescue workers had reached the man. In a precisely timed move, they reached for him, grabbed him, and pulled him away from the edge.
The police officer who had talked the man down from jumping then left the scene and started sobbing, breaking down into tears of relief for the life that he had just saved.
His tears moved me to tears.
This police officer understood the value of a single life. He understood that we must be there for others when everything has gone wrong and suicide seems like the only solution.
I could not help but think of what this police officer said to the man in relation to our country’s assisted suicide regime, euphemistically called MAiD (Medical Aid In Dying) where the program not only encourages people to take their own lives and “jump from the bridge,” but also pushes them off the bridge by giving them a lethal dose of poison.
Euthanasia rates are skyrocketing in our country because many are like this man at the edge of the bridge with no one there to talk them down. There is no one there to give them a shoulder. There is no one there to fight with them. There is no one there to tell them that their life has meaning, that they are needed, that they are loved.
Yes, every victim of our country’s evil euthanasia regime has been that man standing on the edge of the bridge, thinking that suicide is the only solution.
We all need to be like this officer, telling those who are lonely and abandoned that they matter, that their lives have a purpose, and that they are loved. As pro-life people, we are called to build relationships with such people, giving them a reason to hope, and to live. Such people could be anywhere. They are in our churches, our supermarkets, and our neighbourhoods. Smiling at them, learning their name, and greeting them regularly might be all it takes to give them a reason to live. Follow the inspirations of the Holy Spirit.
The officer at the bridge is certainly a hero. All of us are called to be such heroes too by building relationships with the sick, the elderly, and the mentally ill and talking them down from the edge of the bridge called MAiD. Lives are at stake and the time to act is now.
Be bold and daring for life!