TORONTO, Ontario, 7 January, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A secular Toronto magazine has taken an unabashed look at the life of Lia Mills, the 16-year-old pro-life activist who sky-rocketed to international fame four years ago after a speech she gave against abortion, which she had prepared for a school competition, was uploaded onto Youtube. To date that speech has been viewed over 1.3 million times.
Just before Christmas, Toronto Life ran the piece titled “Fetal Position: Inside the world of Lia Mills, the 16-year-old Leader of a New Generation of Anti-abortion Activists” in its print and online editions.
The five-page article describes Lia as an inspiring and passionate young woman who, with the support of her family, decided to do something about the injustice faced by the thousands of unborn babies in Canada annually slated for destruction by abortion.
The article describes Lia as someone with the ability to “establish immediate engagement,” and who “inspires people” as a “natural leader.”
The author writes: “Like most people in the anti-abortion movement, Lia describes herself as pro-life: the term embraces her belief that life begins at conception, that euthanasia is wrong, and that the dignity of life must be respected at all times.”
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Alissa Golob, Youth Coordinator for Campaign Life Coalition, told LifeSiteNews that it was “encouraging” to see a mainstream magazine give “due credit” to the young activist.
“I liked that the article was fair and objective, especially in the way it exposed the animosity and hatred that comes with speaking out against abortion, even to the youngest pro-lifers,” she said.
Toronto Life’s Lauren McKeon not only vividly retold the story of Lia’s unlikely rise to become a recognized and respected pro-life activist, but unearthed little known facts about Lia’s story.
For instance, while Lia is associated with the surname ‘Mills’, it turns out that this is actually a pseudonym created by Lia to protect her parents, siblings, and herself – which, given the reaction to her videos, was likely a good decision. Some commenters on her video threatened her with rape, some wished she had been aborted, and some threatened to kill her. The threats continue to this day as Lia continues to release new pro-life videos online.
The threats intensified in 2011 when Lia’s family learned that an anonymous group had discovered Lia’s real surname and the family’s contact information. The parents contacted police who said that they could do nothing about online threats. Lia’s family opted to relocate and closely guard their new address.
She has since gone on to release videos against euthanasia and contraception, as well as videos in defense of unborn babies as humans and as persons. She has become an important national pro-life public speaker, making appearances at the annual March for Life and at various pro-life events across the continent.
The article says that people like Lia make it evident that abortion is not a “settled issue” in Canada and only appears to be so because “many politicians prefer not to talk about it”.
Golob pointed out that a growing number of people see abortion as the “biggest social justice issues of our time” and that young people like Lia Mills or Live Action’s Lila Rose are “leading the charge and inspiring others.”
“It’s up to the new generation to follow in the footsteps of pro-life leaders before them and help make Canada an abortion-free nation again,” she said.
After the article appeared, Lia wrote on her Facebook page that it was “proof that God can use anyone to make a difference – I’m just a normal, 16 year-old girl who stood up for what she believed in.”
“And every person out there fighting for justice is such an inspiration to me and they help encourage me to keep fighting. Stay strong – we may lose some battles, but we will win the war against the injustices of our time, like abortion!,” she wrote.
Related story:
Lia Mill’s speech to the national pro-life conference in Ottawa