News

Image

OTTAWA, Ontario, April 12, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A pro-life MP has invited MPs, Senators, Parliamentary staff, and media to a screening of October Baby, a highly acclaimed life-affirming film that finished in the top 10 for its debut weekend last year.

“It’s a gripping and powerful, life-changing story of difficult forgiveness,” wrote MP Maurice Vellacott (Saskatoon-Wanuskwein) in his invitation to the Parliament Hill event scheduled for April 30th.

October Baby, which is based on the dramatic story of abortion survivor Gianna Jensen, tells the story of 19-year-old Hannah whose life was turned up-side down after discovering that she was adopted after surviving a botched abortion.

Seeking answers to dark questions, Hannah sets out on an epic American road trip to locate her birth mother. Amidst adventure, romance, and powerful emotional drama, the film delivers a strong pro-life message with a focus on forgiveness and hope.

Image

“This true to life movie is guaranteed to significantly impact your life,” wrote Vellacott.

Vellacott was one of three MPs who in January called on federal police to launch an investigation into the deaths of 491 babies. The babies were born alive after botched abortions between 2000 and 2009, but left to die, as confirmed by Statistics Canada.

According to Canada’s Criminal Code, children are endowed with legal rights “after proceeding fully from the mother’s womb.”

“These incidents appear to be homicides. Therefore a thorough police investigation is required, and I am formally requesting you to pursue that,” wrote Tory MPs Maurice Vellacott, Leon Benoit, and Wladyslaw Lizon in a January 23 letter to RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson. The MPs said that “there should be 491 homicide investigations or prosecutions in connection with these deaths.”

While pro-life activists have long known that babies are often born alive and then left to die after failed abortions, it was until recently unclear how frequently this occurred in Canada.

New research published this week in the Canadian Medical Association Journal found that the “overall rate of pregnancy terminations, whether resulting in a stillbirth or a live birth” has increased in B.C. by 133 percent in less than a decade. The report did not mention if any of the aborted babies born alive survived, or if they were left to die.

This is not the first time that the Christian-themed film has graced the walls of a secular political arena. In February, New South Wales Parliament House in Sydney Australia showed the film with a promise of “afternoon tea”.

Suzanne Fortin, a pro-life activist and blogger at Big Blue Wave, suspects that Vellacott will receive flak for presenting a film that shows how abortion wounds everyone involved.

“I suspect the feminists will try to shut it down. If they do: good. More publicity for the movie,” she wrote on her blog.

October Baby will be shown at 7pm in Room 362 East Block.

Vellacott told LifeSiteNews that he will be providing “bottomless cartons of popcorn and soft drinks to attendees” to make the screening a “total movie experience”.