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Email: "12-Year-Old Pro-Life Prodigy Gives Moving Speech at Canadian March for Life"

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Video of talk on Parliament Hill also reveals large size of crowd BY LifeSiteNews.com By Alex Bush OTTAWA, May 21, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Lia, the twelve-year-old girl who made headlines for presenting a pro-life speech in a school speech competition against tremendous opposition from her teachers earlier this year, gave her exceptional oration to the 12,000 strong crowd at the National March For Life in Ottawa, Canada last week. Lia, who is from Ontario, adapted her speech for the March for Life slightly, adding, “Every day, 115,000 are being put to death through abortion. 115,000. Look around at this great sea of people. This is only about 10,000 people.  Every two hours, this amount of children are killed because of abortion.” Lia became a household name in the pro-life world when she was disqualified from a public speaking contest last February.  She gave her speech anyway, while still being disqualified, causing one of the judges to leave the panel before her speech even began.  Controversy among the judges caused them to reverse their earlier decision to disqualify Lia and she ended up winning the contest. The speech on Parliament Hill was videotaped by Socon Media. The amateur video not only shows Lia giving her speech, but clearly reveals the large size of the crowd, as well as the difficult weather conditions experienced by everyone present for the March for Life. Lia's 8-minute speech was cheered by the pro-life Canadians on the Hill, many of whom were delighted to hear and see this young lady, made internationally famous as a result of the YouTube video of her original speech, which has been viewed 650,000 times so far.“Almost one third of our generation never made it out of the womb,” Lia said, “all those lives are now gone. All that potential, gone, and all that hope and future, gone.” Lia rhetorically asked the crowd, “Why do we think that just because a fetus can't talk, or do what we do, it isn't a human being yet? Could it be that we only call them humans if they're wanted?”“Fetuses are definitely human, knit together in their mother's womb by their wonderful creator,” Lia said, referencing Psalm 139. Commenting on the legal vacuum surrounding abortion in Canada, Lia said, to the approval of the crowd, “Some people might say that since there are no laws against abortion in Canada, it doesn't matter any more.  The matter's settled, and it's none of our business.  But if an action is unjust, it should be illegal, and it needs to be our business.” “I know some people say, 'the mother has the right to abort, after all, her life is dramatically affected by having a baby,' ” she said, “but I'm asking you to think about the child's rights that were never given to it.”   “No matter what rights the woman has it does not mean we can deny the rights of the fetus,” Lia stated, eliciting cheers. “We must remember that with our rights, and with our choices, comes responsibilities, and we can't take away someone else's rights to avoid our responsibilities.” Next, Lia spoke out against the startling abortion statistics related to babies with disabilities, saying, “What doesn't make sense to me is that on the one hand, we provide special parking and elevators for the handicapped, we sponsor the Special Olympics, speaking of the joy they are to us and how they inspire us.”  She continued, “But, when we find out that a pregnant woman is carrying one of these very children we counsel her to abort it, not giving the child a second thought.” Lia also addressed gender targeted abortions, specifically the targeting of women.  She said that “in Bombay, out of 8,000 pregnancy tests which indicated that the baby was female, only one of the babies lived.  As for the rest, the mother exercised her choice.  They were aborted.  Killed.” Lia then brought up the pro-abortion arguments that invoke the so-called “hard cases” - rape and incest.  She responded, “let's look at the facts, only one percent of abortions are hard-case categories.  This includes rape, incest, and the life of the mother being in danger.  One percent,” Lia emphasized. “That hardly justifies the disturbing volume of abortion that happens these days.” Lia ended her speech quoting Dr. Seuss's book “Horton Hears a Who,” saying, “even though you can't hear them, or see them at all, a person's a person, no matter how small.” Related LifeSiteNews.com Coverage: 12-Year-Old Stuns Pro-Choice Teacher and School with Pro-Life Presentation http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/feb/09021605.htmlUnborn Child Saved by 12-Year-Old's Popular Pro-Life Presentation http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/feb/09021807.html12,000: Canadian 2009 March for Life Smashes Previous Attendance Records http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/may/09051409.htmlHere is the original Lia video: http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/12-year-old-pro-life-prodigy-gives-moving-speech-at-canadian-march-for-life/

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