My June thankfully included several opportunities to do street outreach with London Against Abortion and Toronto Against Abortion. Below are a few short stories of encounters at activism.
Toronto – June 19th
My friends and I did outreach near a Blue Jays Game, and thousands of people saw the truth about abortion.
I spoke with a man named Mufad, who told me he wasn’t sure what he thought about abortion or whether it was OK. I asked him if he believed in human rights for all humans, and he readily agreed. I then asked him, “If two humans reproduce, won’t their offspring be another human? And if that human offspring is growing, isn’t she alive?” He again agreed that this was true. I said to him, “I’m sure you can see where I’m going with this…If we know that the child in the womb is a living human being, and that abortion kills her, then doesn’t that make abortion a human rights violation?” He told me he agreed with that argument, but he wanted to know what the alternative would be if a pregnant woman was facing a medical emergency. We talked about the pro-life response to medical emergencies in pregnancy, and how intentionally killing the child is never necessary to save the woman’s life, though it is not always possible to save the baby. At the end of the conversation, he said “I’m completely behind you guys” that abortion was wrong.
Later, a man named Nav approached me with his family. He thanked our team profusely for what we were doing, and eagerly asked how he could get involved in defending pre-born babies. He told me he’d first seen “Choice” Chain signs on the other side of the country, in Vancouver! He signed up to volunteer for training and outreach.
London – June 27
At activism, my friend and I spoke with Naomi* about abortion. Naomi said she personally disliked abortion, but thought it was needed for hard situations, such as sexual assault. She asked me what I thought about that circumstance. I said to her, “Sexual assault is horrific. It’s one of the worst things someone can do to another person. I think we need to be doing more to support survivors of it, and to punish perpetrators.” I paused, then said, “I also know that we live in a country where we don’t even give the death penalty to the guilty rapist. Is it fair to give the death penalty to the innocent child?” I pointed at the photo in my pamphlet of a 10-week abortion victim. Naomi thought about this and agreed that it seemed unfair. We continued talking, and eventually Naomi told me, “This hits home for me, because my sister was sexually assaulted just recently. And she’s pregnant. We’ve decided she’s going to have the baby. But it’s really hard for her.” We told her how sorry we were for what had happened and asked about her sister’s situation and whether she was safe. Naomi said that her sister was safe now, and was receiving counselling. She then nodded at my friend’s sign that showed a 15-week abortion victim and said, “So I’m really thankful I saw this today, because I’m glad she didn’t go through with [abortion].” We told her about the pregnancy help info on the pamphlet in case her sister needed those local resources. Naomi thanked us for the conversation before continuing on her way.
*Name changed to protect privacy
Every hour of outreach matters. With simple conversations and powerful photos, we can show people that violence against the pre-born is never a good solution to difficult circumstances. Pregnant women and their prenatal children deserve far better.
Go to endthekilling.ca/take-action to learn about ways you can speak up for babies in your own community!
Maria McCann 