the day. My mom, daughter and I arrived in the afternoon and we were pleasantly surprised to see some students from St. Marcellinus who I trained a few weeks before. PS You are all awesome!
My talk focussed on making an impact on the high school level. Pro-Life clubs in high school are essential for building a culture of life in our country. I encouraged them to make a personal commitment to Life, Truth and Justice. But to not stop there. Continue to learn about the life issues and be pro-ACTIVEly pro-life. It is not enough to just believe abortion is wrong, our lifestyle must reflect this.
Part of being pro-ACTIVEly pro-life is attending the National March for Life or regional events which is what I will be doing this week with tens of thousands of others in Ottawa. I’m looking forward to seeing many familar faces as we march to seek justice for humans who are not yet born.
Are you going? Take some video footage and enter the Campaign Life Coalition Youth contest:
While on the topic of graphic images in relation to the issue of abortion, I wanted to share some students’ reactions that, in essence, call for censoring the truth about abortion. Here is what some students had to say in response to showing this video (approx. 3 min) during my presentation.
Sickened me and I found it excessive. – Female
I agree with this young lady, seeing the reality of abortion also sickens me. And, the fact that it happens approximately 300 times a day in Canada is excessive. But, that is likely not what she meant. She likely meant that even having it presented at her school sickened her and the amount of images was excessive.
Simply, if something is so sickening, why do we tolerate it in our country? Would she say the same thing about a 3 minute video showing victims of drinking and driving to show people the consequences from making that choice?
I was disgusted that instead of arguing against abortion with facts, graphic images were used to scare the audience. I wish less graphic images were used. They disturbed me and disgusted me. I wish facts were used to change my mind instead of disgusting videos to scare me. – Gr9 Female
This young lady either only showed up for the three minutes I presented the video, or chooses to ignore the rest (and bulk) of my presentation. Again, I am also disturbed when I see the reality of abortion – it is disturbing that this happens in our country.
Make it less graphic. – Gr9 Female
I am not really sure how the images of abortion can be made “less graphic” – that’s abortion.
Following the video I acknowledge how I always feel sad, angry and disgusted when I see it. And, that many of the students may be feeling the same.
I am sad because this happens to our most innocent human beings and negatively impacts millions of women and families around the world.
I am disgusted that our society has seemingly become comfortable with a choice that takes apart a human being while still alive (because, yes, science tells us that from the moment of fertilization that new being that is created is living – two living things (ie. human beings) can only reproduce another living thing of its own kind).
And, I am angry because so many people don’t seem to care about the harm abortion is doing to preborn humans and their mothers.
Following this, I then encourage those in the audience, that if they are feeling those things, too, to use those emotions and channel them into doing something to positively impact our country – change the status quo on abortion and offer real choices to women facing a crisis pregnancy.
I expect people to react like these students have to seeing the reality of abortion. But does that mean we shouldn’t show the truth about abortion? What is more important – saving someone’s feelings or saving someone’s life? Hiding an injustice to avoid discomfort or showing an injustice to save the victims?
The effectiveness of showing these images cannot be denied – they have saved many lives. To hear more about that check out the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform’s website and specifically their newsletters. Watch this video testifying to the effectiveness of images:
There are a number of ways to approach the topic of abortion. I have highlighted in a previous post that I take it on in a holistic approach – we need the facts (statistics, science, logic), along with personal
10-12 week old human being
testimonies and images (fetal development and what abortion does to humans in the womb).
With that in mind, I include a video showing the reality of abortion (approx. 3 minutes) in my presentations when possible. And, though I include all the other components as mentioned above with examples and my points shown on the powerpoint, inevitably when feedback is provided the part that students talk about the most is the video of abortion. And, oftentimes, it is cited as the reason why they have changed their mind – abortion is no longer shrouded in “choice” but is revealed in all of its ugliness making it very clear that it is wrong regardless of circumstances.
Here are a few statements from the students (my next post will talk about the students who object to seeing the video):
The video of the dead babies after abortion really impacted/helped me understand a lot about abortion. Very graphic, disturbing and most of all sad… – Gr9 Female
Make everybody watch the video so you can see what happens when you abort a child. – Gr10 Male
The video of the abortion. It helped me realize what abortion really is and how wrong it is. – Gr10 Female
The video definitely impacted me the most because it was very graphic but I feel that it was necessary since most people don’t take abortion seriously. – Gr9 Female
The students acknowledge that the images of abortion are graphic, disturbing and sad. But, also necessary.
I think it’s important to ask ourselves: if abortion is so disturbing to see, why are we tolerating it? And, why do we offer it as a “solution” for women facing a crisis pregnancy? Can’t we do better for women and their children?
Over the past three days I have spent a part of my afternoon with two high school pro-life clubs providing apologetics training as they prepare to travel to the National March for Life. We cover many arguments for abortion and how to respond using questions and counter examples.
I also talk about the word “choice” so often used in this debate. I do consider myself pro-choice… yet, anti-choice when it comes to harming or killing another human being. Whenever we talk about “choice” we have to answer “Choose what?” If the choice is what ice cream to have or what school to attend I am definitely pro-choice – go for it! Your choice to eat vanilla ice cream over chocolate does not harm or kill anyone.
If the choice is whether or not to drink and drive, abuse someone or rape someone then I am most certainly anti-choice – the choice to drink and drive, abuse someone and rape someone is wrong.
In the abortion debate, then, we need to answer “Choose what?” What is abortion? Abortion is the intentional killing of an innocent human being. And until someone can prove to me otherwise, that choice is always wrong. The choice to give life and either parent or adopt – well, I am pro-those-choices.
Thank you to the students at St. Thomas More and Corpus Christi high schools for your time, thoughtful questions and responses. Most importantly, thank you for responding to the challenge to build a country that respects ALL human life from the moment of conception through to the end.
I had the honour of speaking at Toronto Right to Life’s 2nd Annual Respect for Life Student Leadership Conference on Thursday, March 24th, at St. Michael’s College of the University of Toronto. The event, co-sponsored by the Toronto Catholic District School Board’s “Respect for Life Week” Planning Committee, and the University of Toronto Students for Life, was attended by 237 high school students and teachers from schools across Toronto, including a few from Oshawa and Ajax, Ontario as well. 14 schools in all were represented. The theme of this year’s conference was “Toward a Future for Life!”
It was a great opportunity to share the pro-life message with many interested students. Here are some of their responses to my presentation:
“I feel more equipped to defend the pro-life position. To show teenagers how much abortion is wrong.”
“I thought that it was an impacting presentation because it presented me with powerful and effective information, especially the videos and powerpoint.”
“Very inspirational and informative.”
“The part the impacted me the most is the video played showing body parts of aborted babies.”
“I feel that the whole presentation helped/impacted me in general because it made me understand a lot more about the issue and what we can do about it.”
“The video on the abortion procedure” helped/impacted me the most.
“The video. Seeing the raw images of what actually happens” helped/impacted me the most.
Thank you to Toronto Right to Life and all who helped make the day a great success!
