OTTAWA, Ontario, May 14, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Canada “cannot afford not to have the conversation” about abortion and the protection of human life, urged Bruce Clemenger, President of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, on Parliament Hill at the National March for Life on Thursday.
“You have heard it said that the debate about legal protection for the unborn is over. I say look at this crowd,” Clemenger told the nearly 20,000 pro-lifers gathered. “Consistently each year we have gathered here to say it is not over.”
“You have heard it said that the Supreme Court has ruled that a woman has a right to an abortion. I say to you, read the decision,” he continued. “That is not what the Court ruled. I was in the court years after the decision when an abortion advocate mentioned a woman’s right to choose and the then Chief Justice Lamer cut her off and said the court never said such a thing.”
During the March for Life’s 15-year history, there has been a growing involvement of Evangelicals in the nation’s premiere pro-life event.
The EFC held an Interdenominational Prayer Service at 10:00 a.m. before the noon rally on Parliament Hill, while at the same time there was a Reformed Prayer Service organized by ARPA Canada and Jubilee Canadian Reformed Church of Ottawa.
According to ARPA, over 250 people turned out for the their service. Afterwards, ARPA’s legal counsel, André Schutten, coached the crowd on how to easily debunk pro-abortion arguments.
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At the EFC’s prayer service, vice president and general legal counsel Don Hutchinson urged congregants that in a country which has “declared open season” on children, Christians are called to pray for victims of abortion but also for all mothers, whether they chose abortion or not.
“Just how did Canada progress from having laws that protected children in the womb to it’s current state of lawlessness?” Hutchinson asked. “How did our politicians, largely men and women of Christian faith, wander from commitments to God and the international community of humankind into the place where Canada stands alone among developed democratic nations in allowing abortion through all nine months of pregnancy?”
“If the parents are human; if the DNA is human; if the product of what’s growing in the womb is birthed as a human being; then how can we conclude that the child in the womb is not a human being made in the image of God and deserving of respect?” he said.
In his speech on Parliament Hill, Clemenger called on Parliament to “catch up with what Canadians believe.”
“When is it not the time to talk about the beginning of life? When is it not the time to talk about the protection of life?” he asked.
“You have heard it said that Canadians don’t want a new conversation about the child in the womb,” he added. “I say polls from many polling firms show that most Canadians want protection for the child in the womb.”