This post was written for uOttawa Students For Life by uOttawa Students For Life. It does not necessarily represent the views of NCLN.

Ottawa has two opportunities to hear the formidable Stephanie Gray take on abortion this week. In addition to the event below, she’ll be speaking on Thursday, Nov. 10 at St. Paul’s University in room 103 at 7 pm. The topic is Abortion and Intellectual Honesty. Come one, come all!

***New Location: Colonel By Hall, 161 Louis Pasteur, Room C03***
***Update: Jovan Morales of the Atheist Community of the University of Ottawa will be arguing the pro-choice position.***

Read the comments at the uOttawa Students For Life website.

This post was written for Youth Protecting Youth by ypyvicepresident. It does not necessarily represent the views of NCLN.

You may remember that on October 4, 2010, pro-life students at Carleton University were arrested while trying to set up the Genocide Awareness Project display on their campus, and charged with trespassing. Video can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeJkBQn1-r8

Carleton Lifeline has just announced that the trespass charges have been dropped. Their press release can be found here:

Student Trespass Charges Withdrawn in Carleton University Free Expression Case

We congratulate the members of Carleton Lifeline for their continued courage and perseverance, and are thankful that these unfounded charges have been dropped.

Read the comments at the Youth Protecting Youth website.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Student Trespass Charges Withdrawn in Carleton University Free Expression Case

OTTAWA, ON. November 1, 2011- Trespassing charges that were filed against members of Carleton Lifeline, the pro-life student club at Carleton University, were withdrawn by the Crown yesterday.

On October 4, 2010, members of Carleton Lifeline, a pro-life club at Carleton University, were arrested for attempting to peacefully display the Genocide Awareness Project, an exhibit which compares abortion to other forms of genocide. The University deemed the Genocide Awareness Project to be “offensive” and directed the Ottawa Police Service to arrest and charge four Carleton University tuition-paying students and a Queen’s University student with trespassing. The charges were scheduled to proceed to trial today and tomorrow (November 2nd, 2011).

The Crown stated that the basis for withdrawing the trespass charges is that the issues dealing with the relationship between a university and its students was already being dealt with in Lobo et al. v. Carleton University et al., the civil action brought by two Carleton Lifeline members, Ruth (Lobo) Shaw and John McLeod, against Carleton University and members of its administration.

In July, the Ontario Superior Court heard a motion brought by Carleton University which sought to strike Carleton Lifeline’s Statement of Claim, the document initiating the lawsuit. Had the university been successful, this would have ended the suit. In a split decision, Justice Toscano Roccamo ordered that the action could continue but ordered Carleton Lifeline to make several amendments to its Statement of Claim.

In a subsequent decision regarding costs of the motion to strike, Justice Toscano Roccamo ordered the students to pay Carleton University’s legal costs in the amount of $18,400.87 plus applicable taxes. Carleton University had asked that the students pay $21, 467.68 in legal fees.

“We are pleased that the Crown has decided to withdraw these unjust charges” said Ruth (Lobo) Shaw, former president of Carleton Lifeline. “We have always maintained that we had the right to exhibit the Genocide Awareness Project on campus and that our arrest was unlawful. The withdrawal of these unjust charges is confirmation of that fact.”

Despite the withdrawal of the charges, the civil action against Carleton University is ongoing. “Although we no longer need to defend ourselves against the trespassing charges, a lot of work still needs to be done to move our lawsuit against Carleton University along and to clarify the legal rights of students to campus free speech and expression,” said John McLeod, current president of Carleton Lifeline.

To support Carleton Lifeline’s Defense Fund, please visit www.carletonlifeline.wordpress.com.

For further information, please visit www.carletonlifeline.wordpress.com or contact Carleton Lifeline’s Legal Counsel, Albertos Polizogopoulos at (613) 241-2701.

-30-

By Rebecca Richmond, Executive Director

The tea cups went down at Tim Hortons and the debate started.  We’re good friends and old friends and yet we had always side-stepped the issue.  She was outraged at the Carleton arrests and any sort of infringement of pro-lifers’ free speech rights, but she didn’t agree with me on the issue.

“I’m pro-choice,” my friend explained.  “I don’t think abortion should be used as birth control.  If I got pregnant, I’d have the baby.  But in the case of rape, I don’t think the woman should be forced to endure that for nine months.  I can’t tell her what to do in that circumstance.”

The conversation unfolded in the typical way, (for the pro-life position against abortion even in the case of rape, please see this link) but eventually we reached an impasse.  She admitted she didn’t know exactly what the preborn child was.  She agreed it was killing but…  When she walked right into a logical flaw, she admitted it.  But…

“A woman with a born child can give it up; there’s a system in place to help.  But with pregnancy, she alone deals with that.”

“But why does that give her a right to kill?”

She admitted that she wanted the number of abortions to decrease.  She thought the reality of abortion in Canada is far from ideal,  in terms of reasons for it, the lack of informed consent, and the lack of support systems to help woman keep their children.

“So you disagree with most abortions that are happening but why?” I asked.  ”Why do you care about them when you don’t even know what they are?”

“Look, purely based on logic, yeah, what you said makes sense.  But there’s more to it than just logic.”

“Yes, I absolutely agree with you in terms of logic,” piped up another friend.  “In terms of logic, I’m on your side.  But there’s also the emotional side to it.”

The discussion ended abruptly and we parted ways.  If this had been a formal debate with a judge keeping score, I would have won.  I had made a clear, coherent and logical case for the pro-life position, a fact conceded by my friends.

But winning arguments doesn’t matter and I don’t care what a judge would think of how I argued.  All the logic in the world can’t move a heart that doesn’t want to move.  Perhaps my words planted seeds; perhaps progress was made.  Perhaps.  Maybe all I have left is to not waver in my commitment to the cause, regardless of the sacrifices it requires.  My words can’t change a heart, but perhaps the way I live my life can.

On Friday September 2nd, Rebecca Richmond, NCLN’s Executive Director, appeared briefly as a guest on Michael Coren’s new Sun News Network talk show The Arena.

To watch the video clip, click the link below:

Minority View: The Arena with Michael Coren

Tune in this Friday September 2nd to Michael Coren’s new show on the Sun News Network.  Rebecca Richmond, NCLN’s Executive Director, will be appearing on the show as a guest to discuss the issue of abortion.  The Arena with Michael Coren premiered on Tuesday August 30 as a prime time talk show on the network, offering discussion and analysis of controversial issues and current events.

The show will air at 7 p.m. EST.  For more information on the show or on show times in other time zones, please visit their website.

Sun News Network is available on the below channels.  You can also tune in online and watch the show with live streaming.  Videos from the show are also available after the show airs.

Shaw Digital – Channel 177

Shaw Direct – Channels 149 and 517

Rogers in Toronto – Channel 15

Rogers in Ottawa – Channels 66 or 142

Shaw Cable Hamilton – Channel 21

Cogeco Cable Hamilton – Channel 16

Videotron – Channels 79 and 679

NCLN is pleased to announce the creation of a new grant of $1500.00, to be awarded each year to a deserving campus club!  This grant is  sponsored by The Interim (Canada’s Life & Family Newspaper) and Niagara Region Right to Life, and facilitated by National Campus Life Network.

The purpose of this grant is to recognize the work of pro-life clubs and assist them in their efforts on campuses.  The grant will be given to the group whose event proposal demonstrates creativity, planning, and leadership and will have a substantial impact on the university culture.

Applications, which include the completed event proposal and a tentative budget, are to be submitted to NCLN by Sept 2nd .  The decision will be made by the Grant Sponsors, with recommendations from National Campus Life Network’s staff who work with the groups throughout the year.  The grant of $1500.00 would be presented to representatives from the winning group during NCLN’s Annual National Symposium (Sept 30 – Oct 2) in Toronto.

Students – take advantage of this opportunity!

Contact Rebecca Richmond at director@ncln.ca for an application.   Applications are to be submitted to NCLN by Sept 2nd, 2011.

Anastasia is grateful to have this opportunity to continue to promote the pro-life cause. She is looking forward to using her experiences to help university pro-life clubs share the pro-life message, a message that is too important not to be heard.

Anastasia has always been pro-life, and what has most confirmed her position has been seeing the development of her siblings from the womb onwards. Being the eldest of 9, she has had plenty of opportunities to see this development. However, it wasn’t until university that she became actively involved in pro-life work. During her five years at the University of Victoria Anastasia was involved in the pro-life club, Youth Protecting Youth. As president she worked hard to maintain the club’s status amidst strong pro-choice opposition from their students’ society.

During this time she led the club through a lawsuit, which they filed against their students’ society who had denied Youth Protecting Youth club status because of their stance on abortion. Through her perseverance and support from fellow club members, the BC Civil Liberties Association, and NCLN, the case was settled out of court on the club’s terms, and Anastasia succeeded in keeping a vibrant pro-life presence on campus. Throughout the controversy Anastasia gained invaluable experience coordinating events, creating and presenting appeals, and interacting with the media. It was through encountering such strong opposition to her pro-life beliefs that she truly came to understand the vital importance of the cause, and the necessity of actively furthering it.

Throughout the five years of her university degree the most valuable lessons Anastasia learned were from working with the pro-life club. However, her degree in Recreation and Health Education also provided her with opportunities to promote the pro-life cause, as she spent two work terms with seniors and people with disabilities. Through these experiences she witnessed firsthand how all people have inherent value and beauty, regardless of age or ability.

As Anastasia steps into her role as NCLN’s Western Campus Coordinator, she encourages students to keep persevering in their pro-life efforts on campus; we cannot neglect our peers who need to be exposed to our life-affirming message, and we cannot afford to remain silent when so many lives are at stake.

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

~Martin Luther King Jr.

Carleton Lifeline will appear in court tomorrow as the University attempts to quash their lawsuit, claiming it is “frivolous”.  The press release can be viewed here.

LifeSiteNews.com covered this development in the story here.

Ruth Lobo, the former president of Carleton Lifeline, appearened on Sun News today to discuss the arrests and free speech on campus.   The video clip can be seen here.

This post was written for Youth Protecting Youth by ypyvicepresident. It does not necessarily represent the views of NCLN.

Tomorrow, May 12, the March for Life is taking place in Victoria. All are welcome to join in standing up for the dignity of all human life. Speakers at the Victoria March include Archbishop J. Michael Miller of the Archdiocese of Vancouver, Rev. Dr. Robert Fitterer of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Victoria, and international pro-life speaker Rebecca Kiessling.  The full schedule of events is available here.

Marches will also be taking place across Canada in places such as Ottawa, Edmonton, and Regina.

Read the comments at the Youth Protecting Youth website.