Following nicely on Andrea’s post, this from the Run with Life Blog:

My latest ATIP to the Privy Council Office revealed that Motion 312 had 98% support from Canadians who wrote to the Prime Minister.

That is, 1033 of the 1054 letters, written to Stephen Harper, supported Stephen Woodworth’s Motion which:

“asked that a special committee of the House of Commons be appointed and directed to review the declaration in Subsection 223(1) of the Criminal Code of Canada which states that a child becomes a human being only at the moment of complete birth.

I am speaking at a conference this week in Cleveland, Ohio where I have been asked to explain the Canadian situation to the Americans.  They don’t understand how it is that in over forty years no legislation has been passed what-so-ever, that would protect unborn human life, or the mothers themselves who are involved in abortion.

I think this will serve as a good example.

I was at the Manning Networking Convention for the past few days. As such, I sat in on a session about how the Conservatives are polling. (Not good, is the short answer.)

Anyway, a moment of more than passing interest occurred when the pollster identified that abortion falls into the quadrant of issues that the Conservatives don’t care about and Canadians don’t care about. Ie. It’s not an issue the Government should be raising.

I was sitting next to a pro-life friend and she asked, “do you think that’s true?”

I do. And I think it’s important for pro-life Canadians to be aware of this. We need a major cultural shift before this is going to be a politically saleable issue.

That said, politics, I believe, or what might be termed “political activity” in a certain capacity, can also be a way of changing the culture. Politics, including the distasteful shenanigans that happen on the Hill, is part of our culture, I think.

Mark Warawa’s failed motion on sex selection abortion, for example, at least raised up the issue for Canadians. It needs to be raised up a couple hundred more times by people of all stripes, political and not, and then, slowly, slowly, politics will choose to deal with it.

Unfortunately, change is slow. Cultural change is slow and political change, I am starting to see, might be yet slower.

As Linda Gibbons, in and out of jail for the pro-life cause says, “The battle isn’t lonely, but it is long.”

She’s right. It’s not lonely. I look around me and see I am surrounded by some of the best, brightest, most convicted pro-life people there are.

But the battle is long, indeed. I need to remind myself of that. Long distance race, people, not a sprint. This is not a reason to be lackadaisical, but it is a reason to be strategic.

I am thinking this through as I type. A thought for the day. Now it’s off to hit a different hill, not Parliament Hill, but rather the Hill(s) of Gatineau. Hurray!

I’m not Jewish, but that doesn’t mean I, and you too, can’t absolutely love the blog Raising Kvell. I’m all about Amanda Kosior’s posts right now. My most recent favorites are this post on the Happy Birthday Colin movement, a social media birthday party for a special needs child, where she writes,

What if every single person out there who “liked” that page or sent a card, actually started a dialogue with their kids about the importance of looking beyond differences?

And this wonderful open letter to the media to stop labeling children as adopted. It’s thought provoking and funny.

Dear journalists, scriptwriters, and other members of the media: I officially revoke your ability to use the word “adoption,” in any of its related forms. […]

I have been a mother for two-and-a-half years, and my limited experience has shown me that your success as a parent is not defined by the moment your baby is placed in your arms. It is defined by every single moment after. I know this because I just had to have a discussion with my son about what you do and do not put up your nose, a topic I am pretty sure has never shown up in an adoption pamphlet or Lamaze class.

The fact is, parenting is parenting. There is no asterisk next to my name on my son’s birth certificate. My “Mom” necklace is not surrounded by quotation marks. In the eyes of my country and God, I am my son’s mother.

 

The Rescue Summit is THIS SATURDAY in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Wow, that came up fast. I’ll be talking about being pro-life in the public square. It’s free and it’s not too late to register.

Also, Ross Douthat is coming to Ottawa as part of the Manning Networking Convention. Cardus is bringing him in and Friday night promises to be fun and informative. That’s what Cardus is like. Fun and informative. It’s not free but it’s not too late to register.

The sad part is, the content has changed but women’s magazines today essentially do the exact same thing: How to tips on how to get and keep a man.

…who think the birth control pill isn’t the be all and the end all…

Want to avoid pregnancy? Kindara, an iPhone app created by a husband and wife team in Boulder, Colo., promises that it can be your birth control, too, letting women get off the pill.

While it’s hard to track how many women avoided pregnancy with Kindara, in the last year alone, the app has helped 10,000 women conceive, co-founder William Sacks tells Business Insider.

I love this quote:

William Sacks: We actually founded the company because we were looking for effective birth control that wasn’t the pill. Kati had been on the pill for 10 years and she didn’t like the side effects. She introduced me to the fertility awareness method and I was blown away by how little I understood about female fertility. I was actually outraged that I had never been taught how reproduction actually works.

Once we started tracking her fertility signs I learned all about how her body worked and also discovered an added intimacy in our relationship. We wanted to share this with other couples, so we started Kindara out of our own desire to give women and men tools that help them take control of their health, understand what’s happening with their bodies and meet their fertility goals.

Maybe this year pro-choice demonstrators won’t throw condom packets at our faces! Ah, a girl can dream. That’s right, a girl. Nothing screams ‘women’s rights’ like violence against women.

Loneliness and feeling unloved are twice as likely to kill you as being overweight.

As death becomes something that you choose, rather than something that happens to you, people will ask for it just because they can.

Around 16 per cent of the people who use ‘right-to-die’ organizations such as Dignitas have no underlying health problems listed on their death certificates.

Read it here.

Study released today on international abortion norms. Canada is one of four countries in the world that have no restriction in law what-so-ever.

Ottawa, ON – A new study has found that the US and Canada are among the seven most liberal countries in the world offering little or no protection for unborn human life what-so-ever.

Angelina Baglini of the Charlotte Lozier Institute looked at International Gestational Limitations on elective abortion, and found that in the 199 countries, independent states, and semi-autonomous regions with populations exceeding 1 million, Canada and the US were among only seven that have no limits on elective abortion after 20 weeks.

The study found that 140 countries require reasons for aborting that range from restricting the procedure completely to allowing it as a means of saving the life of the mother only, to various reasons of physical and mental health.

Fifty-nine countries limit elective abortion up to a defined gestational point in pregnancy. Of these 59, only seven countries in the world pass the 20-week threshold for allowing elective abortion.  This includes the United States which generally permits abortion to viability in law.

But Canada is among the only four countries in the world that have no restriction in law what-so-ever.  The other countries are China, Vietnam and North Korea.

Baglini concluded that “The clear norm among countries that permit elective abortion is to limit abortion to before 20 weeks gestation, and the procedure is more commonly limited to 12 weeks (the first trimester).”

A retreat for those who are suffering after abortion:

Rachel’s Vineyard is a safe place to renew, rebuild and redeem hearts broken by abortion. Weekend retreats offer you a supportive, confidential and non-judgmental environment where women and men can express, release and reconcile painful post-abortive emotions to begin the process of restoration, renewal and healing.

Date April 11-13

Call Terry or Lynda at 613-806-5522 or email [email protected]