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Halifax Group Brings First Ever Canadian 40 Days for Life Campaign to Close

By John Jalsevac

HALIFAX, N.S., November 14, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – This year Halifax was one of the two Canadian cities to participate in the the wildly successful 40 Days for Life campaign – the North American-wide pro-life effort that saw nearly 450 unborn babies saved from abortion, and tens of thousands of pro-life volunteers take to the streets in an unprecedented show of grassroots strength (For more coverage on the Ottawa campaign, see: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/nov/08110407.html). This was the first year that Canadian cities had participated.

Plans to organize the 40 Days for Life Halifax campaign, which took place from September 24 to November 2, began this past July after the news broke of Morgentaler’s nomination for the Order of Canada. Galvanized by the news, organizers contacted 45 Catholic churches and 85 Protestant churches seeking support and volunteers to help bring the 40 Days campaign to Canada.

While one of the goals of 40 Days for Life is to stage 24 hours a day, 7 days a week prayer vigils outside local abortion centers, Halifax organizers had difficulty in getting the nighttime hours filled. Instead the team decided to focus on filling daytime hours between 6 am and 9 pm. 

With 150 volunteers, the Halifax campaign managed to cover a total of 600 hours of prayerful vigil. Organizer Julie Culshaw credited this achievement to “a handful of those participants were willing to commit an extraordinary amount of time to prayer at the vigil site, some putting in as much as three to four hours per day.” With the campaign coinciding with the change in season, many of the devoted 40 Days participants had to brave inclement weather and plunging temperatures for hours at a time.

While there are no facilities devoted solely to killing unborn children in Halifax, abortions are still committed in the cities’ hospitals, with the majority occurring at the Victoria General Hospital. According to statistics 1700 such killings were committed in 2007, with approximately 70 late term abortions committed at the IWK Children’s Hospital. The late-term abortions committed at the Children’s Hospital are largely done on unborn babies found to have disabilities or Down’s syndrome.

The 40 Days Halifax vigil was held on the public sidewalk on South Park Street, outside the Victoria General Hospital, next to the entrance of the main parking lot. The vigil, while significantly removed from the building itself, was well situated to be noticed by pedestrians walking by, visitors to the hospital, and hospital staff who drove in to park.

Culshaw said that, due to the fact that the vigil took place outside a large hospital, it was difficult to gauge what impact the campaign had on women seeking abortions. Nevertheless, she said, “we feel that our witness during this vigil was to the public, raising awareness that their place of health care operates a ward to terminate innocent lives, and does this in great numbers.”

Last week the Halifax group concluded their campaign with a banquet at which Shawn Carney, one of the original four organizers for 40 Days for Life, gave an inspiring talk. The banquet was attended by over 160 people, many of whom say they are prepared to participate in future 40 Days for Life campaigns.  

As has happened with many other campaigns across the continent, participants in the Halifax initiative have found that they are disinclined to give up their pro-life efforts entirely, now that the official campaign has come to a close. “We are going to maintain a weekly presence at the hospital on Wednesday mornings,” said Culshaw, “beginning with a Rosary walk with Father Joe Hattie, our resident Priest for Life here, and then we will remain in prayer until noontime. All are welcome to join us as we continue to pray for an end to abortion.”

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