Focus On Life Fundraiser Held In Vancouver

Here's an interesting item from the B.C. Catholic Newspaper about the May 14 Focus on Life fundraiser. It certainly seems that BC has a strong and united pro-life movement. There were 750 in attendance at this event!

By all indications, Pro-Life BC is a model business in terms of saving lives and getting results. The Focus on Life media campaign, which it co-sponsors along with a number of different organizations, including the Archdiocese of Vancouver, is an on-going campaign using television to air woman-centred, life-affirming messages.

Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life attended the event and addressed those present. As usual, Fr. Frank had encouraging things to say and helpful perspective for pro-lifers.

In his keynote address, Father Pavone scoffed at the pro-choice movement's claim of being pro-woman. He said the pro-choice position twists authentic feminism, and has a misperception of the connection between a mother and her unborn child.

"The so-called pro-choice movement has hijacked authentic Christian feminism and presented it as something else. It is presented as pro-woman by protecting their freedom of choice, but we stand by the woman and her child, and give her true choice!"

"The so called pro-choice movement will also tell you that the pro-lifers will stand by the baby, but that pro-choice advocates stand by the women. However, the pro-life movement says something completely different, because they recognize that the woman and her unborn child are not something that is separate. You cannot hurt one without also hurting the other."

The Focus On Life advertising campaign sounds very promising and effective. I hope that it will indeed achieve the goals envisioned.

These high quality, non-adversarial ads deal with sanctity of life themes and inform viewers where to find help for those experiencing crisis pregnancies or suffering from a past abortion. They direct women to the 1-877-88-WOMAN hotline, where abortion-minded women can receive counselling and hear about the alternatives to abortion. Over the months when the ads run, calls to the toll free number increase by roughly 600 per cent. Unfortunately, the group does not have enough money to keep the ads on the air for the entire year, and so the calls to the hotline drop off dramatically when the commercials are not running.

...snip

Focus on Life follows the model of Michigan Right to Life, which employed a similar ad campaign with great success. Since their media campaign, which runs year round, began in 1987, the abortion rate in Michigan has dropped 45.4 per cent. Pro-Life BC points out that if abortions drop that drastically in British Columbia, they would be saving the lives of 7,000 unborn children per year. They also point out that the major challenge for them right now is money.

Click through and read the whole article. It's not very lengthy.