In his book, The Everlasting Man, the inimitable English writer G. K. Chesterton recounts a controversy which occurred in his parish church over a statue of the Virgin Mother and the Christ Child. The congregation was apparently concerned that undue attention would be focused on the mother, at the expense of the Child! Following much discussion, a compromise was reached – the congregation agreed to remove the Child! The compromise, according to Chesterton, was the result of a practical difficulty: it was impossible to chip away the mother from all round the child, thus leaving the child suspended. Indeed, as Chesterton states, you really cannot have a statue of a baby at all. “You cannot,” observes Chesterton, “suspend the idea of a newborn child in a void… you cannot visit the child without visiting the mother; in common human life, you cannot approach a child except through the mother.”
There is an obvious wisdom in Chesterton’s insight, a wisdom which our American pro-life colleagues have taken to heart. In the past few years the pro-life movement in the United States has developed and adopted strategies and methods entirely outside the political framework, strategies which may well harbour the seeds of ultimate victory. These strategies are characterized by a new militancy in which ordinary Americans are rising up and taking to the streets in unprecedented numbers, employing non-violent, passive resistance to abortion. These strategies are known by the following names: Sidewalk Counselling, Operation Rescue, and Project High School – all focusing on the mother or prospective mother – all are methods of direct action. Manitobans have begun to take up these strategies.
In mid-July 1988, following four years of pro-life effort which prevented abortions from being performed, the Morgentaler abortuary in Winnipeg finally began its killing business. For the first few weeks, pickets were maintained outside the “clinic,” but there was a growing feeling that something more had to be done – some direct action.
Seminars
In early September, Debra Braum of St. Paul, Minnesota, Pro-Life Action Ministries, came to Winnipeg to give two seminars on sidewalk counselling. Attended by more than 70 people, Debra’s seminars echoed Chesterton’s observations: if you want to save babies you must approach the mother. You must love the women seeking this desperate solution enough to tell them the truth about abortion and offer them the truly caring alternatives.
Sidewalk
On Saturday, September 17, in the company of Debra, some 20 novice counsellors took to the sidewalk and alley at the Morgentaler abortuary. Fifteen to eighteen women entered the clinic that day. Some took the pro-life literature, some refused, and some virtually ran up the stairs of the clinic to avoid hearing the pleas not to kill their babies. One of the women who had entered the clinic, left before the abortionist arrived. Debra had given her material and believes she may have changed her mind. But following that victory over death, there have been many defeats.
$300
Because the abortuary has had trouble finding a staff doctor, abortions are only performed on Saturdays and Sundays by a part-time abortionist. Many of the women coming to the abortuary are from Saskatchewan and Ontario. The price for killing a baby at Morgentaler’s abortuary is $300 up to the twelfth week of pregnancy, and $400 for pregnancies between 12 and 14 weeks. Provincial medicare does not pay for abortions done in “clinics”.
Since September 17, Leona Chalmers of the Winnipeg League for Life has worked tirelessly to co-ordinate counsellors. She and her husband, Jim, have spent many hours at the abortuary trying to dissuade women from aborting their babies. Leona also co-ordinates volunteers who are present at the clinic during the week to pass out literature to women entering the clinic for pre-abortion information and tests. Among those who take and read the literature given them by dedicated volunteers, perhaps some do not return for a Saturday appointment with death.
