The Toronto Star took notice of the growing number of young people involved in the pro-life cause with a front-page article in today’s paper. Good for them. The article is fair and balanced, but there is a factual problem with the second paragraph:
Pro-lifers will rally on Parliament Hill by the thousands Thursday for the March for Life, an ever-growing annual rally attended by, yes, older activists, but also increasingly by hordes of fresh-faced young people snapping photos, shooting videos and live-tweeting while hoisting signs saying “Justice for the Unborn.”
The annual National March for Life in Ottawa — which will be held once again tomorrow in the nation’s capital — has been growing every of its existence for the past 15 years or so. It has been growing dramatically for the past decade precisely because of the “hordes of fresh-faced young people.” Yes, it has been attended by older activists but since at least 2001 (since I’ve been covering it) at least half of those in attendance are youth (high school and university students). In the last three or four years, youth have made up at least three-quarters of the crowd on Parliament Hill. The story’s angle, that young people are increasingly involved in the pro-life cause, is an old story. I became editor of The Interim in my late 20s. John-Henry Westen co-founded LifeSiteNews in his 20s. Campaign Life Coalition has been sending university students and recent graduates to the United Nations since the late 1990s to monitor that organization’s pro-abortion and anti-family activities. I could go on and on; outside of local pro-life groups in smaller cities and rural communities, most pro-life activists and those professionally active in the movement are mostly under 40. At some events, you are more likely to see facial piercings than grey hair.
I’m not really complaining about the Star story. I welcome the media’s coverage. And better late than never that they notice what’s happening in society. But this isn’t really news except to those who have actively ignored this story for so long and those who depend on the mainstream media that has been ignoring this story.
