- Catholic school trustee finds Church’s catechism ‘dangerous’
During debate on reopening their decision to censure Toronto Catholic District School Board trustee Michael Del Grande, one of his colleagues, Norm Di Pasquale, objected to one presentation which quoted the Catholic Church’s teaching on homosexuality and transgenderism. Di Pasquale interrupted the reading of a passage from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, called it “dangerous,” and, along with a majority of his colleagues, voted to not formally accept the presentation. After Toronto Cardinal Thomas Collins issued a statement saying that trustees take an oath to uphold the catechism, Di Pasquale apologized for his comments.
- Geneva Declaration insists there is no international right to abortion
In October, 34 countries signed the Geneva Consensus Declaration emphatically stating that there is no international right to abortion, that the United Nations should prioritize helping mothers and their preborn and infant children, and that the UN must respect the sovereignty of nations and not impose a radical sexual and reproductive health agenda upon them. The Declaration stands in contradistinction to the Justin Trudeau’s government’s policy of funding abortion advocacy in the developing world and paying for the expansion of abortion and birth control services around the globe. Signatories included Brazil, Egypt, Hungary, Indonesia, Poland, Uganda, and the United States.
- Virtual March for Life organized quickly, huge success
When the pandemic lockdowns forced the cancellation of the National March for Life in May, Campaign Life Coalition created a Virtual March for Life, with a full week’s program with more than 25 hours of content including pro-life movies and questions and answers with their producers and directors, a virtual March for Life with speakers from across Canada, and an interactive youth conference in which participants joined by Zoom. CLC’s Virtual March for Life was seen by tens of thousands of viewers. Before the virtual march, a pre-show special produced by Dunne Media, “Be Not Afraid,” aired on EWTN featuring talks with numerous Canadian pro-lifers. That show was seen by a large international audience.
- “Conversion therapy” bans pushed at municipal and federal level
In recent years, cities across Canada have sought to outlaw so-called conversion therapy, that is, psychiatric, psychological, or spiritual treatment for unwanted same-sex attraction and gender confusion. Cities outlaw the advertising of such services and prohibit the licensing of medical professionals who provide them. This year at least 13 municipalities (including Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Ottawa, and Saint John, N.B.), two provinces (PEI and Quebec), and one territory (Yukon) debated, and in many cases, passed various bans, condemnations, or limits on providing such services. The federal government introduced C-7, which would outlaw providing counseling to resist same-sex attractions or affirm one’s gender matches an individual’s biological sex for minors and ban the coercion of such services. Critics say it violates parental and religious rights.
- Pro-lifers won a third of the vote, decide leader in Conservative Party leadership campaign
After a nearly seven-month leadership election campaign that saw two pro-life leadership hopefuls prevented from running (Richard Decarie and Jim Karahalios), Erin O’Toole won on the third ballot in a four-way race. He defeated Peter MacKay, Leslyn Lewis, and Derek Sloan. Lewis, a Toronto lawyer, and Sloan, a first-term MP, combined for more than a third of the vote on the first ballot, and Lewis almost overcame the two front-runners on the second ballot. O’Toole, who is pro-abortion, ran as the only candidate who could unite the various factions of the Conservative Party and defeated MacKay because the vast majority of Lewis and Sloan supporters put him as their second or third choice in the ranked ballot.
- U.S. presidential election results in U-turn on pro-life administration
American pro-life groups called Donald Trump the most pro-life president in U.S. history because he appointed three anti-Roe Supreme Court justices, beefed up the Mexico City policy outlawing U.S. taxpayer funding international agencies that promote or commit abortions, resisted efforts at the UN to declare abortion a human right, strengthened conscience rights, bolstered measures to prevent funding of fetal tissue research, and was the first sitting president to attend the March for Life in Washington. His opponent, Joe Biden, shucked his four-decade record of opposing taxpayer funding of domestic abortion in order to win the Democratic nomination, and he endorsed the party’s policy of abortion-on-demand, committed to only appointing Supreme Court justices that support Roe v. Wade, and called for a law declaring abortion a constitutional right. Following the hotly contested Nov. 2 election, Joe Biden appeared to have won the requisite number of states to be declared the presidential winner, and he has vowed to reverse the pro-life policies enacted by Trump.
- Liberal government introduces broad expansion of Medical Aid in Dying
In October 2019, the Quebec Superior Court claimed that the existing federal euthanasia and assisted-suicide law was unconstitutional because it discriminated against patients whose deaths are not reasonably imminent (within six months). It gave Ottawa six months to comply with its ruling. Because neither the Quebec nor federal government appealed the decision, the Trudeau government responded with amendments to Canada’s so-called Medical Aid in Dying law, but rather than limit itself to the scope of the decision and then let Parliament carry out its legally mandated five-year review of the country’s euthanasia law, Justice Minister David Lametti tabled a bill that radically expanded MAiD. C-6 would allow euthanasia or assisted-suicide for patients who are not dying if their physical or psychological suffering is persistent, would eliminate the need for two doctors to approve a euthanasia request, scrap the ten-day waiting period between a euthanasia request and carrying out the lethal procedure, and open the door to assisted suicide for those with mental illness. The feds asked for an extension because they originally tabled their legislation in February and wanted more than a month to debate the changes, but the pandemic response required the new June deadline to be extended to December.
- Donald Trump appoints Amy Coney Barrett to Supreme Court
During the final weeks of the U.S. presidential election, pro-abortion Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died. President Donald Trump appointed Amy Coney Barrett, an anti-Roe appellate judge to replace Ginsburg. Pro-abortion groups attacked Barrett and Democrats insisted Ginsburg’s replacement not be appointed until after the election, but there was nothing in Barrett’s character or record that would convince enough Republican senators to vote against her and she was confirmed before election day. Barrett, and the other Trump Supreme Court appointees, Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch, are opposed to Roe v. Wade and for the first time there appears to be a pro-life majority on the Supreme Court (led by Clarence Thomas and joined by Samuel Alito). While some pro-life groups are hopeful that Roe will be overturned, others are tempering expectations saying they see a solid majority, possibly joined by Chief Justice John Roberts, to uphold state-level restrictions on abortion.
- Culture of death takes no break during COVID-19 pandemic
After official denials that it was not a threat outside of Red China, the spread of the novel coronavirus, first to South Korea and Italy, and then the rest of Europe and North America, led governments around the world to bring in unprecedented measures to try to limit the pandemic. During the initial stages when elective surgeries were cancelled to ensure medical resources were prioritized to battle the initial surge in cases, abortion facilities in some jurisdictions were deemed essential, while in others they were not. Britain responded by making it easier to get a do-it-yourself abortion by allowing the abortion pill to be prescribed by telehealth and delivered in the post. In the first wave of the pandemic, deaths were disproportionately in long-term care facilities, raising questions about the level of care seniors receive in some nursing homes. In Canada, at least two British Columbia individuals requested an assisted-suicide rather than face another lockdown and remain apart from loved ones.
- Governments restrict religious services in response to pandemic
Governments around the world put numerous restrictions on churches – often more onerous than those placed on commercial enterprises – and limited attendance or the practice of important rituals such as funerals, weddings, and baptisms. Early in the pandemic, liquor stores remained open in many jurisdictions while churches were closed. When governments slowly reversed the initial lockdown, they frequently placed capacity limits that were more stringent for houses of worship than they were for businesses. In some places, singing was outlawed. In many parts of the world, faith leaders went along with authorities, suggesting that they did not consider religious services essential, or at least that spiritual nourishment was not as important as the idea of bodily health.
