CLC Blog

It seems like only yesterday, but when I check my bathroom mirror in the morning, I’m reminded that it occurred about a ‘lifetime’ ago.

I was in Washington D.C. and seated in a coffee shop with Dr. Bernard N. Nathanson, co-founder of the U.S. abortion movement. We were joined by half a dozen pro-life leaders and the discussion centred around the former abortionist’s conversion to the pro-life cause.

After presiding over the deaths of over sixty thousand children in the wombs of their mothers, Dr. Nathanson who was then studying fetology at New York’s St. Luke’s hospital, came to the realization that when a woman was pregnant, he (the doctor) had not one but two patients.

Now, it would seem to me, that every “Joe Lunch pail” and “Mary Washerwoman” (my own background) knows that a child becomes a child at the time of conception. But, it took Dr. Nathanson, a very bright, articulate and learned man, a long time to come to this epiphany.

At the time, hundreds of thousands of pro-lifers were praying to God that Dr. Nathanson would come to his senses and realize the extent of the damage he had orchestrated through his outright lies, which he details in his book, and his ‘hands-on’ killing of his unborn patients.

We, in that coffee shop sat quietly, listening to his ‘confession’, completely overwhelmed by what we were witnessing. It was fascinating to learn that while still an atheistic Jew he slipped into St. Patrick’s Cathedral one day, during a church service and into a back pew, here a young couple offered their hands and said, “the peace of Christ be with you Dr. Nathanson.” They knew who he was and the grisly nature of his work and still smiled and offered a prayer for him. He was shaken and overwhelmed by the experience. Dr. Nathanson firmly believed that with the great scientific advances coming so rapidly, abortion-minded people could not continue the lies about pre-natal life merely being a blob of tissue, or collection of cells.

On many occasions, over the ensuing years, Campaign Life Coalition invited Dr. Nathanson to Canada to speak at annual conferences and forums, testify at trials, appear at press conferences, address the Parliamentary Pro-life Caucus, debate abortionist Henry Morgentaler on T.V. and appear in CLC’s T.V. commercials shown across the country. He also appeared on the front page of the very first edition of The Interim Newspaper. While he was quite confident that the new scientific advances would turn out to be our greatest ally, not everyone
agreed.

I recalled that at ‘The Tiniest Humans’ Conference held in Toronto in 1979, I was fortunate to meet Sir William Liley of New Zealand. He was often called the ‘father of fetology’ because of his highly publicized milestone procedure in which he successfully saved the life of a baby through an intrauterine blood transfusion. While his efforts were known to be lifesaving, he was distraught to think that medical technology could advance in such a way that it would be so simple to destroy lives in the process of creating designer babies.

In Canada today and around the world, his fears have become real, as parents kill multiple children in the womb by selective reduction and eliminate children based on gender (gendercide). That is why the Motion by MP Mark Warawa (Langley) is so important. Girl children are the special targets, as boy children are preferred in many cultures (because of the dependence of boy children to care for the parents, the hardships of dowry issues, etc.).

So, the theme of our National March For Life in May is ‘End Female Gendercide’. Whenever the discussion takes place, most people agree that it is wrong to kill girls but then, these same people ask, “But, what about the boys?” Exactly! We have always advocated they must be protected as well! Please pray for these efforts to engage the public.

Just as people prayed years ago that Dr. Nathanson would stop his support for abortion, we here in Canada should continue praying for the conversion of abortionist Henry Morgentaler. March 19th marks Henry’s 90th birthday. March 19th is also a special day for many Catholics since it is the feast of St. Joseph, the patron saint of Canada.

We would ask for your extra effort of prayers that Henry too would meet his epiphany.

Thank you for your continued support, your regular and sacrificial giving, your notes of encouragement and your constant prayers for our efforts.

You, are the pro-life movement. We are just the daily workforce.