“I’ll never get involved in that dreadful pro-life movement”
So spoke Margaret Purcell fifteen years ago before leaving her native Australia. Today, she’s national Vice-president of Campaign Life Coalition (CLC) and editor of Vitality, CLC’s quarterly action newspaper.
Margaret, 51, has always been pro-life. As a registered nurse she has refused to participate in hospital abortions. A quiet person, she never felt attracted to pro-life activism in Australia. Instead she busied herself with political party activity.
Her involvement changed when the family migrated to Canada in 1977, where they found a home in Yorkton, Saskatchewan. Margaret and her husband Maurie (Maurice) switched from an ideological struggle against communism in the labour politics of Australia to the struggle against the evil of abortion in Canada.
Today, Margaret volunteers her time and talent, five days a week, to the national CLC office in Toronto. TO do so, she commutes two hours (each way) by train from her home in Niagara Falls. “It’s nothing,” she says, “compared to what others do for the pro-life movement.
Her husband, Maurie, is a teacher in Hamilton and they have nine children. The four older ones live Saskatchewan because of work and school commitments. The five younger ones, Sean, 20, Kate, 15, Monica, 14, Daniel 12 and Brendan, 9, live at home where Maurie and the children work as a team to help Margaret fulfill her pro-life commitment. She admits she is all consumed by the issue because of its moral, political and social implications. “We could all look the other way, but one day God will ask us to account for what we didn’t do. That scares me more than having to account for what we did,” she says.
Margaret and Maurie grew up in the state of Victoria, in the city of Ballarat, where mostly Irish ancestors settled. It was the site of an historical rebellion, “The Eureka Stockade,” stated by gold miners over unjust penalties, insufficient pay and dangerous work. It was against this background that Margaret and Maurie formed strong beliefs about social justice, moral responsibility and obligation.
Margaret trained as a nurse in Australia “under strict Irish nuns.” These taught her more than any textbook about discipline and survival. It was in her hospital that she met Maurie, employed there as an electrician. He had been called to rescue a confused patient on Margaret’s floor who had climbed a ladder and was unwilling to descent. Around this strange encounter their romance blossomed. They would later marry and “be best friends” for over thirty years, blessed with a large family.
After Margaret’s fifth child, she took a post-graduate course in obstetrical nursing where she encountered abortions. She refused to participate and was scorned by her supervisors. Her encounter would shock her and make her think about the abortion issue very seriously.
Meanwhile, Maurie became executive director of the only pro-life, pro-family political party in Australia, the Democratic Labour Party. He became fearful of the Australian political system, so he and Margaret decided to move to Saskatchewan, Canada to begin a new life.
Prairie Life
The family loved living on the prairies, in Yorkton, where Margaret played the church organ, grew her own vegetables and indulged in her passion for listening to classical music. Here life was friendly and unhurried. She recalls how withdrawn she was then but “bold with a pen,” often writing letters to the editors of local newspapers.
She joined a church discussion group and discovered how well she could debate her ideas in public Then she received a handwritten thank you note for a donation she had given to the local pro-life group, accompanied by an invitation to attend their meeting. Her pro-life commitment in Canada would begin.
She “inherited” a pregnancy counselling service which she ran for eight years. Then she began to replace a busy Maurie at Coalition for Life meetings and sat on its board for four years, becoming its national secretary. In 1985, she was a negotiator during its amalgamation with Campaign Life and was elected national vice-president, an office she still holds.
Moving East
In 1987, the family reluctantly decided to move east to improve their economic situation and to get help for their learning-disabled child. They moved to Sault Ste. Marie in Northern Ontario, where they stayed for a year.
In 1988, they moved again, this time to Niagara Falls, Ontario to be near advanced facilities for their child in nearby Hamilton. That was the beginning of her full commitment to CLC in Toronto.
Toronto
“Margaret always seemed to be able to do what needed doing and to do it well,” says Jim Hughes, President of CLC. In May 1989, he asked her to write and edit Vitality. Her clear, snappy and amusing writing-style on topical pro-life issues informs and “exhorts them” to action. It has a circulation of 90,000 with a French edition planned for the future. A self-effacing, natural writer, she says, “I’m just part of the team that produces it. I’m just an ordinary person who writes what I think ordinary people want to know.” Margaret also carries out her duties as vice-president, by answering phone calls and mail inquiries from across Canada at the CLC offices.
Steve Jalsevac, CLC office manager and publisher of Vitality, says, “Margaret is totally committed to the cause of the unborn child and unrelenting in her dedication. She’s a very pleasant person to be with because of her deadpan sense of humour that often relieves tension in our meetings.
Jim Hughes, who loves to trade mischievous jibes with her, say d that after Margaret moved to Niagara Falls in August 1988, “she felt compelled to come into the CLC office, full-time, five days a week, to help with political pro-life work, until the May 1990 Parliamentary vote. (To date she still comes in). She’s done a tremendous amount of work. With her Irish wit and tenacity and her Australian resourcefulness, she’s a great asset to the pro-life cause.
Media prominence
Margaret made her national TV and radio debut last summer during the Murphy/Dodd and Tremblay/Daigle abortion injunctions as CLC’s spokesperson. Unintimidated by media interviews, she easily faces prominent pro-abortionists “because I know we’re right.” Paul Dodds, legal counsel for CLC say, “Margaret holds her own in any interview or debate when up against ‘experts’ or lawyers. She’s able to express complex ideas in a bold but simple way and always comes out on top. “Her crystal-clear logic and calm manner make her an effective debater.
Politicians should be wary of the next generation of pro-lifers. They’ve been taught at home. Margaret always tells her children, “Develop the talents God gave you.” So recently, Monica her 12-year-old daughter, in a mock high school debate, challenged “Ed Broadbent.” She said, “You and the NDP like to support universal day care but if you support abortion on demand you won’t have children to put into day care.”
Like mother like daughter. Monica seems to have inherited her mother’s talent to be an intrepid debater.
