LIFE CHAIN — Participants of all ages and walks of life participated in Life Chain 2012 Sept. 30, calling for an end to abortion in an annual hour of public witness at the corner of Idylwyld and 22nd Street in Saskatoon. Life Chain is an event held in communities across the country around the first week of October.

Life Chain attracts 200 in Saskatoon

By Kiply Lukan Yaworski

SASKATOON — Some 200 people gathered for an hour of prayerful witness during a Life Chain event Sept. 30 in Saskatoon, calling for an end to abortion.

Participants prayed, walked and held signs along streets surrounding the busy intersection of Idylwyld and 22nd Street, receiving both honks of support and rude gestures during the event organized by Campaign Life Coalition. Life Chain happens across the country around the first week of October.

As the event concluded, organizer Denise Hounjet-Roth encouraged participants to contact members of Parliament about the way they voted on the recent private members motion calling for a re-examination of when a child is considered a human being in Canada’s criminal code.

The present definition says that a child becomes a human being only at the moment of complete birth.

The motion lost by a vote of 203-91, but prompted discussion and raised awareness about issues related to the human rights of unborn children, she said. The motion had support from a number of cabinet ministers and from members of more than one political party (87 Conservatives and four Liberals).

It is important to affirm those politicians who stepped out to call for another look at Canadian legislation related to the humanity of unborn children, Hounet-Roth said, especially as some, like cabinet member Rona Ambrose, have faced heavy criticism for their stand.

At the same time, she encouraged writing the prime minister and other members of Parliament, like local MP Lynne Yellich, who voted against the motion, to express dismay with their lack of support for M-312.

The vote revealed which MPs really do stand by pro-life principles, asserted Hounjet-Roth.

Participants in Life Chain were also encouraged to sign and circulate a petition in support of a new private member’s motion introduced by Conservative MP Mark Warawa of Langley, BC, calling for an end to sex-selective abortion that targets baby girls for female “gendercide.”