Just days after the annual March for Life in Ottawa, hundreds of pro-life advocates gathered in front of Queen’s Park in Toronto, calling for legislation to restrict abortion in Canada.
Organizers told True North that at least 400 were in attendance. The protest attracted Christians of all stripes, as well as secular advocates for abortion restrictions on human rights and ethical grounds.
Naomi Meerstra, a grassroots organizer for the “Association for Reformed Political Action,” a Christian advocacy group, told True North attendees were united around protecting pre-born life despite the diversity of perspectives of those gathered.
“We’re here today to march for life, to march for the thousands of preborn babies whose lives are violently ended through abortion every year in Canada. We’re here to advocate for them,” she told True North. “We’re here to speak up for them because they cannot speak for themselves. These preborn children deserve protection. They deserve life.”
Notably, every major political party took a pro-choice stance in the last federal election, though some MPs are openly pro-life.
“No matter who our leaders are, no matter which party is elected, we see that it’s so important to represent the preborn children here in Canada because Canada is the only democratic country in the world with no laws against abortion,” Meerstra said. “There are still so many pro-lifers. There are still so many babies dying, and we need to advocate for them.”
The lack of legislation means that at any point in a pregnancy, a baby can legally be terminated. Meerstra said there are some things Canadians of all stripes can agree on in the discussion of abortion, and that common ground could serve as the basis of new legislation.
She and others at the rally cited a 2019 poll conducted by DART Insight and Communications and Maru / Blue Voice Canada, which reportedly found that 70 per cent of Canadians believed abortion should be illegal in the third trimester when babies could be viable outside the womb.
The survey randomly selected 1,515 Canadian adults from across Canada with results statistically weighted to match the Canadian population. However, Prince Edward Island and all the Canadian territories were excluded due to a lack of sample size.
Although rare, in February, a publicly funded pro-choice group, Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights boasted about securing an abortion for a woman who came to them at 24 weeks of pregnancy in its annual report. The report wasn’t clear about how much time had passed since the woman contacted them and accessed the abortion.
The poll also found that 84 per cent of respondents were against gender-selective abortions based solely on the baby’s sex. Despite this, the poll still found that 75 per cent of Canadians were “satisfied’ with the government’s abortion policies. However, a separate study found that 30 per cent of respondents, just a few months later, incorrectly believed Canada had laws restricting abortion.
When asked if there was ever a time when abortion was acceptable, Meerstra was resolute in advocating for the unborn.
“There are obviously really difficult circumstances like sexual assault, and that is terrible, and it’s so sad that that happens in our country, and we should do so much more to prevent that and to help moms and to help babies,” she said. “However, that child is still an innocent human being. A crime was committed against the mother, but why should we commit another crime against the innocent child?”
She said politicians of all stripes can work together to enhance support for mothers, such as providing alternatives to abortion, to lessen the demand for the practice.
“How is it that the only thing we can offer them is the solution to end the life of their innocent, innocent child? We should actually do so much more to help them, to protect them, to give life, to provide pregnancy support, pregnancy care centres, hospitals, things like that, provide more help for moms,” Meerstra said. “There are so many people who would love to adopt, but the system is quite slow.”
Blaze Alleyne, another pro-life advocate, also advocated for legislation to protect wanted children, too, as there are currently no additional punishments for violence committed against a pregnant woman.
Others in attendance explained why Christians believe life begins in the womb, citing passages of the Bible which explain John the Baptist in the womb leaping with joy when near Jesus in his mother’s womb.
“Only those who have life can express joy. So there is life in that baby,” Michael Elaigwu, a preacher from Nigeria, told True North. “So life begins in the womb.”
Amir Haqiqati, an Iranian immigrant who travelled from London, Ont, was critical of the pro-life movement “writ large” for advocating for incremental changes to abortion laws.
As an “abortion abolitionist,” Haqiqati believes the pro-life movement should make no concessions and always take a biblical stance, calling all killing from conception to natural death “murder,” and to be legislated as such.