It was, perhaps, a sign of things to come that a whirling March snowstorm suddenly enveloped the Charlottetown area just moments before the plane from Ottawa touched down.
On board were two well-known pro-life missionaries from Human Life International – founder and world traveler Father Paul Marx of Washington, and Sister Lucille Durocher, director of HLI’s Canadian branch in Ottawa. They were starting a week-long consciousness-raising tour, sponsored by PEI Right to Life Association.
Their visit coincided with International Women’s Week, a largely government-funded feminist celebration of the freedoms women have achieved, including the “right” to abortion.
“We needed to be alerted,” said Paul Chandler, a tour organizer. “Because PEI has no abortion clinics, it’s easy to think we have no problem. And if we think we don’t have one, we don’t want to hear about it.”
Not Immune
“That is part of the reason we set up this tour,” says Wilf Driscoll, another organizer and a Right to Life spokesman. “We are not immune to the problems that plague the rest of Canada. Islanders are staunchly pro-life, but still there are many danger signs.”
For example, the active branch of Canadian Abortion Rights Action League (CARAL) claims to refer some 500 women a year to American and Canadian abortion “clinics.”
They lead a determined and aggressive group of pro-choicers trying to force the largest island hospital to provide hospital abortion “services.”
In addition, the Advisory Council on the Status of Women, now protected by provincial legislation and generously supported by the Ghiz government, is increasingly vocal in promoting the ideology of radical feminism, including abortion “rights.” They claim that a survey they sponsored last year indicates 80 per cent support for abortion.
They applaud the Department of Education, which cites danger of AIDS and a high teen pregnancy rate to justify the imminent introduction of a comprehensive integrated family life program with a strong sexuality component. Many have been persuade that it is a much-needed program – not for their own children, of course, but for all those others.
No strong centres
As these and other forces move confidently and swiftly to influence Island society and values, they meet virtually no organized opposition other than the Right to Life Association.
Church attendance is down. Many of the former strong centres of Christian influence are gone. The Catholic university, the convent schools, the Catholic hospital and School of Nursing have all disappeared. Today all young Islanders receive a secular education, except for a handful attending two relatively new Christian fundamentalist schools.
“It is clear that the same forces are at work, and the same trends are visible here as elsewhere,” notes Anglican Archdeacon William Moore.
For over a week, Fr. Marx and Sr. Durocher criss-crossed the province. They were interviewed on radio and TV spoke in churches, halls and auditoriums, and participated in a Sunday afternoon symposium. They spoke to university students, the clergy of the Anglican Diocese, the PC (Opposition) Caucus, and a Rotary meeting.
Everywhere, they talked about the loss of respect for life and family and stressed the need for a return to Christian values.
“You Canadians are a scandal to the world. Your country is 85 per cent Christian, yet you continue to elect pro-abortion leaders. You now have no law whatsoever regarding abortion. You are unique in the world,” Fr. Marx pointed out.
“Our Supreme Court judges could have been the heroes of the century. Instead they took six months to decide they couldn’t rule on the Borowski case. They’re fond of wasting the people’s money,” added Sr. Durocher.
Dying nation
“Don’t you know your country is dying? Your birthrate is so low that you can’t replace yourselves, and you still worry about protecting your cultures. Don’t you know that culture walks on two legs? No babies, no legs. No legs, no culture,” Fr. Marx bluntly reminded his audiences.
The pair also stressed the increasingly clear connection between the widespread use of contraceptives and the increasing number of unintended pregnancies followed by abortion.
“Many think that making contraceptives more easily available will cut the abortion rate. Just the opposite is true,” Fr. Marx told his listeners. He supported this statement by quoting statistics, as well as admissions, from such abortion promoters as Planned Parenthood leaders and Dr. Marion Powell of Toronto.
“Every contraceptive has failures,” he explained, “so the more they are used, the more failures there will be. A contraceptive failure is always a baby. So in every country, without exception, the promotion of contraception has always led to the promotion of abortion.”
Over and over they stress the importance of promoting chastity among the young. And they urged parents to get involved in the family life education program now being introduced into the province’s schools.
“Worldwide, it is a well-established fact that in-school sex education erodes parents’ rights and moral values as well. Don’t let it happen here,” urged Sr. Durocher.
Sex education
“Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t teach your own children about sexuality. Parents can, if they want to, and if they are given the necessary help and reassurances,” she added.
“If the schools are going to teach young people about human sexuality, they very soon reach the point where they have to teach morality, rules for using the information. It they aren’t allowed to teach morality, they have to teach contraception. They have no other choice. That is why it is so much better to educate the parents,” Fr. Marx noted several times.
They also promoted natural methods of family planning. “The best form of birth control that exists. There is no doubt about this at all. But you have to work at it. If you leave a condom in the drawer, it won’t work either.”
Though invited, members of CARAL and Status of Women did not attend the Sunday afternoon symposium. They explained their absence in a joint newspaper advertisement: “The public discussion may not include a guarantee of a balanced format.”
The 350 who did attend received a very clear picture of the worldwide attacks on life and family. They also heard lawyer Valerie Moore outline the legal options remaining in the search for protection for the unborn.
Reid Sangster, a member of the audience, spoke passionately on the need for people to become involved. “Stop letting the people who oppose the things you stand for, do all the standing – while you stay at home and say you can do nothing.”
This 69 year old member of the? Church of Scotland is a school board trustee with a long-standing concern about in-school sex education. “I was planning to retire this year, but after listening to this afternoon’s presentation, I’ve decided to run again,” he announced.
Catholic opposition
One might have expected the arrival of such knowledgeable and outspoken foes of abortion to be warmly welcomed in a pro-life and largely Catholic province. It wasn’t exactly like that.
In one Catholic Church, Fr. Marx’s words generated spontaneous applause. In others, pastors refused to let him speak and discouraged their congregations from attending the lectures. Some listeners said, “It’s a long overdue message,” while others grumbled, “We don’t need Americans and Upper Canadians to tell us what to do.”
Even within the Right to Life Association, reactions varied. “Our mandate is to educate people about abortion only. We are not to get into the question of contraception. We’ll lose support as a result of this tour,” some complained.
Others reacted like Wilma Griffin: “Now that we have the national and global picture, we have to apply this knowledge to our own particular circumstances.” A very energetic Right to Life chapter president, she was already preparing a list of suggestions for her members.
Nurse Lorna Muzzerall found the whole experience very encouraging: “Weekly, even daily, we are bombarded with anti-life propaganda. We seldom hear respect-life messages from anyone. This has been a ‘booster shot’ for pro-lifers. It builds our defences. Let’s not wait too long to repeat it.”
