Over at Maisonneuve is an article entitled “No Choice.” The authors, Andrea Bennett and Kim Fu, review the state of the pro-life movement. They have a lot to say and some of the information appears to be correct, but I thought I’d poke at two points they make.

It’s a long article. Feel free to read it yourself and note anything else of interest in our comments section.

1. Abortions capped at 24 weeks

According to the authors, “Strict physicians’ guidelines cap abortions at twenty-four weeks.” I know someone who looked for these guidelines last year. The poor guy spent weeks trying to find provincial and territorial physicians’ colleges’ guidelines on abortion and then more time trying to piece together what they generally “encourage.” A number of colleges admitted that they had no abortion policy at all. The CMA doesn’t have “strict” guidelines either.

The authors are wrong on this point.

And is the authors’ imaginary cut-off point of 24 weeks something to celebrate?  This is what a child looks like at 24 weeks, or six months. Even if you dismiss the argument that all humans, regardless of their age or stage of development, have inherent worth and dignity for simply being human beings, this ain’t no clump of cells. This is a child.

2. Crisis Pregnancy Centres are notoriously litigious

The authors claim “CPCs are also notoriously litigious.” As one of the very few lawyers in Canada who specializes in what I’ve come to loosely call “sanctity of human life issues,” I can assure the authors that CPCs are not litigious. To confirm what I already knew, I just ran a Google search. Little if anything pops up. On what are they basing this statement?

And excuse me as I howl with laughter at the thought of the centres being “notoriously litigious.” Yes, those crazy pro-lifers and their buckets of money – money collected from ye olde money tree in the parking lot. Money that they then throw at their team of lawyers. Lawyers they keep on retainer and on-call, to address any perceived slight. Yes, that sure sounds like the reality of non-profit and charitable organizations everywhere.

And to support their claim, they provide a single example.

Did the authors research and determine the number of Pregnancy Care Centres across the country? And then determine how long they’ve generally had their doors open? And then determine how many lawsuits have been launched by said centres in that period of time?

Who fact-checked this article? Or approved the use of the word “notorious”?

Check out the article for yourself and let me know what you think.

The comments from their boys are priceless:

Q: “What do you do for fun?

A: “Get beat up?”

The oldest son’s piece of advice: “Don’t turn your back on them for too long.”

What a cool family. Here’s more on the family and how they make it work.

According to the neighbour, since the boy isn’t “normal” like her kids and makes noise, his “non retarded body parts” should be donated to science and he should be euthanized.

This happened in Ontario.

Anyone else craving a culture of life? (Le sigh.)

This quote could apply to the work we do…

“When you want to help people, you tell them the truth.

When you want to help yourself, you tell them what they want to hear.”

— Thomas Sowell, (1930- ) Writer and economist

I just read about the Stepping Up program in this week’s issue of ChristianWeek. I’ve never heard of any other programming with a similar mandate. I’d love to see this replicated across this country:

In ministering over the years to teen moms, Rast says they realized that many of the fathers—contrary to the “deadbeat dad” stereotype—actually craved a relationship with their children and girlfriends.

“They’re crying out for somebody to give them just a bit of a step up to be there for their kids,” he says. “But they have no idea how to do it.”

When Morgan came onboard three years ago, Stepping Up was finally launched.

“The mantra of Stepping Up is stopping the cycle of fatherlessness,” says Morgan. “We want to see these guys connect with their children in a meaningful way, and help them gain meaningful employment, so they can sustain themselves and their young families.”

Think he gets invited to lots of cocktail parties? Socials? I don’t tend to post things so overtly Christian, but I thought this one was important. Because Christians talk an awful lot about “following the call,” but then a good half the time, we are uncomfortable with the outcome and distance ourselves from people like this. And he is following God’s call. (Why else, for crying out loud, would you do this?) Everyone has to work in their own way. Some people will talk through a megaphone outside an abortion clinic. Others will write. Still others will open up crisis pregnancy centres. Some will adopt children with special needs. But let me be very clear: I won’t make fun of this guy for what he does.

I hope for every Christian–for those who claim that label–that we are truly following the call of God on our unique lives… and not choosing to do instead what looks cool or what we are comfortable with. (And BTW, I don’t rule out that God might call people to do things that look cool, too.)

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Faye adds: Watch the video. Just go watch the video. It’ll be the best 8 minutes of YouTube content that you watch this week. John Barros has saved over 1,000 babies from abortion in 3 years. Wow.

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Andrea adds: And note that when snarky pro-choice bloggers make fun of pro-lifers outside of clinics, they are talking about him–people like him. There are entire blogs devoted to this, by the way, making fun of pro-life protestors. Been a while since I read any of ’em, but they are probably still going strong.

There is one.

An Orlando abortion clinic ran by a controversial, unlicensed physician has outraged locals by offering discount abortions.

The Orlando Woman’s Center, which was shut down in June and had all of its equipment seized, has brazenly thrown its doors back open – and even more boldly, it has begun circulating coupons for bargain-basement abortions on Sundays.

The coupons offer a $50 discount for abortions performed on Sundays.

If you’re pregnant, worried and a little overwhelmed and not sure what to do, there are people who are available and happy to help you. The fine people at the Canadian Association of Pregnancy Support Services can help you find a pregnancy care center near you. You can call them toll free at 1.866.845.2151.