Ahead of March for Life Event, Group Calls for Protection of Children and Ending Euthanasia Expansion

Members of the Campaign Life Coalition gather on Parliament Hill on May 10 ahead of the annual March For Life. (Matthew Horwood/The Epoch Times)

One day before the annual March for Life in Ottawa kicks off, members of the Campaign Life Coalition (CLC) gathered on Parliament Hill to call for the protection of unborn children and to criticize the potential expansion of Canada’s euthanasia laws to include minors.

“The hundreds of thousands of us across this country who recognize the humanity of preborn children will continue to march until a day comes when the inalienable dignity and the God-given rights of every baby inside the womb and outside the womb are recognized and protected by law,” said Pete Baklinski, director of communications for the CLC.

On May 11, thousands of Canadians will gather in Ottawa for the annual march through the streets of Ottawa. In previous years, the march has attracted over 10,000 people.

Baklinski said an estimated 4 million Canadian babies have been aborted since May 14, 1969, when then-Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau decriminalized abortion in Canada. Baklinski argued that abortion is the leading cause of death in Canada, claiming around 100,000 lives per year.

He said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “hides behind the word of ‘choice’” when speaking about abortion in Canada. “‘Choice’ has a face. ‘Choice’ is the face of hundreds of thousands of preborn Canadian babies killed every year by abortion,” he said.

‘Slippery Slope’

Jack Fonseca, CLC’s director of political operations, said when abortion was legalized in Canada in 1969, it was intended primarily for life-threatening pregnancies and in rare cases such as rape, and all warnings of a “slippery slope” were ignored.

“Look where we are today, with 100,000 children killed by abortion every single year, almost exclusively for reasons of convenience as a lifestyle choice,” he said at the May 10 event.

Fonseca argued a similar “slippery slope” occurred with Canada’s euthanasia law, which was passed in 2016 for the terminally ill, but is to be expanded to the mentally ill on March 17, 2024. Fonseca also highlighted that Parliament’s Special Committee on Medical Assistance in Death released a report that included recommendations for expanding euthanasia to minors.

“The problem is that once society accepts killing as an acceptable solution to human suffering, we will always find new categories of killable people,” he said. “The kaleidoscope of killing will continue to expand in this nightmare horror show. Killing is not health care, it’s murder, and we will stand here against it.”

Josie Luetke, the CLC’s youth co-ordinator, said following the United States Supreme Court decision to strike down Roe v. Wade, the abortion debate in the country is “alive and well.” She said Canada should be looking to “imitate” the United States’ stance on abortion rights.

Luetke criticized Canada’s Families Minister Karina Gould for suggesting Canada might offer the abortion drug mifepristone to women if it is banned in the United States. Back in January 2023, CLC called for Health Canada to ban the abortion drug Mifegymiso after a 19-year-old Canadian girl died of septic shock after taking the pills.

“It is absurd to be asking the question ‘is the abortion pill safe?’ The purpose of the pill is to kill someone. You cannot kill someone safely; it is an oxymoron. It’s as ludicrous as asking if a firing squad or guillotine is safe. It is not safe by design,” she said.

Bill C-311

On May 9, Conservative MP Cathay Wagantall introduced private member’s bill C-311, which would encourage judges to consider physical or emotional harm to a pregnant victim as an aggravating factor during sentencing.

While Wagantall opposes abortion, she said her bill was unrelated to it and is solely focused on violence against women.

Trudeau told reporters on May 10 that it was “frustrating” to see the Conservative Party “reopening the debate on abortion and going after a woman’s right to choose.”

Luetke rejected the assertion that Wagantall’s bill was about abortion, claiming it is about protecting pregnant women from assault.

“If the Liberals are truly pro-women—as they claim to be—as they should be, they should support this bill,” she said. “The fact that they want to use this to fear monger just speaks to the fact that they care more about abortion than they do about protecting pregnant women from harm.”

Baklinski said the abortion debate in Canada has been open since 1969, and will “stay open until human rights are granted to every single human being, those in the womb and those outside the womb.”