New Brunswick needs babies!

We had quite a few great speakers at the March For Life rally in Fredericton. Among them was Susan Leger, president of the New Brunswick Right To Life. I was lucky to obtain the text of her speech - which I post here with Susan's permission.

I am more than delighted to greet you on this most beautiful spring day. On behalf of the executive board of directors, volunteers and staff of New Brunswick Right To Life, welcome and thank you all for making the extra effort to stand with us today. I’ve come with three points to share and just two minutes to do it. So no elaboration, just short and sweet.

First: New Brunswick needs babies!

I trust most of you have been keeping up on the latest developments. I’ll spare you getting into all the statistics, but folks, at 1.4 children per family we’re not even replacing ourselves. 2.1 is needed just to maintain the population. I’m aware there are other considerations but I submit to you today that abortion is a large part of our problem. Common sense alone tells me that the aborting of about 1000 New Brunswick babies a year is certainly not the solution! We are desperately in need of pro-child policies. Policies set in place to encourage young couples to have babies.

Second: most women have abortions not because they want to but because they feel pressured or have lack of sufficient information about available choices.

Many face a daily internal struggle between condemning themselves and defending their “choice”. A struggle that manifests itself in harmful behaviors, depression, suicidal urges, flashbacks, nightmares etc. What these women really need is proper information; support through and beyond their pregnancies.

I strongly believe our government has the capacity of doing more to get this information where it is badly needed: education in our schools, advertising campaigns. This all costs money. There are at least ten existing centers in our province that are ready to promote such projects - but for lack of funding. Wouldn’t it be refreshing to see some of our hard-earned tax dollars moving toward a stronger, more alive New Brunswick?

Which brings me to my third point: As a woman I am extremely disturbed that the New Brunswick Advisory Council on the Status of Women unabashedly supports and relentlessly pursues as a women’s right abortion on demand. And they have the audacity to imply that they speak for all the women of New Brunswick.

The letters and commentaries I have read sound more like they are promoting the views of a radical feminist agenda. They are most certainly not representing the views of the majority of New Brunswick women. And here’s the crunch: they’re doing it all with our tax dollars.

When we as a human society devalue the life of a tiny defenseless human baby, in his/her mother’s womb, we have devalued your life and mine. In fact we have devalued every human life.

Is it not time to turn the tide and begin to restore our beautiful province into a thriving vital alive one, that makes room for all?