Pro-Life March Through Amsterdam 

On December 12, the Dutch group Cry for Life held its 17th annual March for Life in Amsterdam. The march attracted over 700 participants, the largest number to date. Many of the marchers had red tape with the word “Life” over their mouths to signify the silence of the unborn, who have no voice. Some marchers carried replicas of fetuses in the 12th. week of development, about the time most abortions occur in the country. The march was along a 2-km route from Amsterdam’s historic Dam Square to the Keizersgracht Church, founded by Dutch pastor and eminent theologian Abraham Kuyper. Dr. L.P. Dorenbos, president of Cry for life, welcomed the marchers and introduced dignitaries, including Christians for Truth President Jan de Bruin (cosponsor of the march), Agnes Jonckheere of the Belgian Free Christian Democrats and representatives of the French group Droit de Naitre (Right to Life). Abortion up to the 24th. week was legalized in the Netherlands on December 18, 1980. Since then, 600,000 Dutch babies have been aborted, including 30,000 in 2009 alone. Like most of Western Europe, Holland has a below-replacement birth rate. The march ended with a service at the Keizersgracht. The evening before, the church was attacked by leftist vandals, who spraypainted slogans like “Keep the Church from My Crotch” on walls. In 2008, marchers were assaulted by proabortion agitators. This year, the mayor of Amsterdam provided a police escort. World Congress of Families V was held at Amsterdam’s RAI Centre from August 10-12, 2009. The headquarters of the Congress’s professional organizer (Euro-Congress) was similarly attacked. Click here for videos of the Congress. Click here to contact Cry for Life. Click here for WCF Aug. 3, 2009 press release on attack on Euro Congress.

Pro-Family Conference In Moscow 

More than 1,000 attended a December 3-4 pro-family conference at Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral. The conference, sponsored by the World Russian People’s Council, was opened by Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church. Speakers included Svetlana Medvedeva, wife of Russia’s president, Health Minister Tatyana Golikova and Elena Mizulina, head of the Duma Committee for Family, Women and Children. Mizulina said abortion should be limited to medical necessity. (Her declaration was an historic first for a Russian official.) Russia now has more abortions than live births, and is losing three-quarters of a million people annually. Fr. Maxim Obukhov, Russia’s leading pro-life advocate, headed a session called “Illnesses of Society and Ways to Cure Them,” which discussed the traumas of abortion and divorce. Intended to present alternatives to feminism, the conference also dealt with defending the family, family values, childbirth, and demographics. In October, the Russian Federation sponsored a successful resolution before the U.N. Human Rights Council affirming that “traditional values” are the basis of human rights. Click here for WCF press release of Oct. 22, 2009 Fr. Obukhov, founder and chairman of the “Zhizn” (Life) Center, Russia’s largest and most influential pro-life organization, was profiled in the May 2008 World Congress of Families News. Click here to read Fr. Obukhov’s leadership profile on page 5 of that issue. He is also the World Congress of Families Coordinator in Russia.

 

4th Pro-Life World Congress In Saragossa, Spain 

More than 1,300 people from 31 nations attended the 4th Pro-Life World Congress in Saragossa, Spain, November 6-8. The theme of the Congress was “Public Awareness: A Symphony for Life.” The Congress issued the Declaration of Saragossa, which identified those pushing abortion internationally to include the United Nations and its agencies, the bureaucracies of the European Union, the Ford, Gates and Soros Foundations, the Federation of Family Planning and “the current president of the United States.” The Declaration acknowledged, “A society that tolerates with indifference the mega-genocide of abortion, be it surgical or chemical, loses the most elementary sign of humanity, and sooner or later it will be inclined to damage in a violent way some other human rights of its citizens.” The Declaration demanded that society “promote and finance programs that encourage chastity before marriage, and fidelity in it,” and “execute programs to strengthen the family based in heterosexual marriage, and the education of youth in the virtues, and in authentic meaning of femininity and masculinity,” as well as penalizing “abortion, euthanasia, eugenic practices and the manipulation of human life.” Click here to read the Declaration. The Congress honored Human Life International and Congressman Christopher Smith with its Humanity Award, which recognizes distinguished service by institutions and individuals in defense of human life and the family. Human Life International is a World Congress of Families Partner. Past Pro-Life World Congresses were held in Madrid (2003), Lima (2005) and Mexico City (2007). The 5th Pro-Life World Congress will be held in Managua in 2011. For the Congress website, click here.

First WCF Regional Congress In United Kingdom, June 2-3, 2010 

The World Congress of Families is pleased to announce that our first regional Congress in the United Kingdom will be held at the Baden- Powell House in London, June 2-3, 2010. Under the auspices of the National Families Week organization, and running during National Families Week in Britain, it will be known as the Family Values Conference 2010/WCF Regional Congress. The U.K. Congress is in the preliminary planning stages. However, it will address such key topics as: Politics of Marriage – Public Efforts to Strengthen Marriage; Strengthening Motherhood and Fatherhood; Balancing Work and Family; The Sanctity of Life; Faith as the Underpinning of the Family; Declining Birth Rates; Addiction to Internet Pornography; and Media and The Family. Further details on the Conference will follow. Click here to reach Vanessa Theed of the Family Values Conference Organizing Committee. In 2009, WCF Regional Congresses were held in Abuja, Nigeria (June 4-7) and Riga, Latvia (May 15).

WCF Partners – Building An International Pro-Family Movement 

The World Congress of Families Partner Program was started in September 2007, roughly four months after World Congress of Families IV. Its inception coincides with the launch of World Congress of Families News. World Congress of Families Partners help to support the Congress financially. (The annual Partner fee is $2,500.) At the end of 2007, WCF had 14 Partners. As 2009 drew to a close, we had 29. Our goal is to start 2011 (a Congress year) with 35 to 40 renewing Partners. Twenty of our 29 Partners opted for early renewal of their status (an option we provided in November), by paying their 2010 fee by December 7. Coming at a time when most nonprofits are stretched financially, we consider this an extraordinary vote of confidence. Our Partners include all of the largest pro-family/pro-life organizations in the United States, as well as REAL Women of Canada, Red Familia (the Family Network) in Mexico, Alliance for the Family (Latin America and Europe), HazteOir.org (Make Yourself Heard) in Spain, Associazione per la Defesia Dei Valori Cristiani (Italy), the Fr. Peter Skarga Institute (Poland) and the Swiss Family Forum. Red Familia was the host committee for World Congress of Families III (Mexico City in 2004). HazteOir.org helped to organize the October 17 pro-life march in Madrid, which brought between 1 million and 2 million demonstrators to the streets of Spain’s capital. Partners give us the ability to reach out to their members and supporters – especially in a Congress year. They also demonstrate the international scope of the Congress and constitute an endorsement by many of the most prominent groups in the profamily/ pro-life movement. The Congress gives our Partners a chance to connect with pro-family organizations, leaders, activists and scholars all over the world. World Congress of Families News is a vehicle to publicize their activities and recognize the important contributions of their leaders. Partners who maintain their status for two years are automatically Co-Sponsors of the next Congress. As Co-Sponsors, among other benefits, they are entitled to an exhibit, participation in the program, paid registrations and access to VIP receptions. Partners also have a chance to participate in regional Congresses, like the 2009 World Congress of Families Dialogue of Civilizations in Abuja, Nigeria, the Riga Family Forum, and the upcoming Family Values Conference in London. And Partners have the satisfaction of knowing that they are part of a burgeoning international movement. Until our Partner Program was launched, there had never been an attempt to forge an international alliance of pro-family organizations. Between the World Congresses every two years, our ongoing Partner Program and World Congress of Families News, we have the beginnings of such a movement. The “World Congress of Families Petition In Support of Romania’s Defense of Marriage” shows the potential for such an alliance. In the spring of 2008, World Congress of Families circulated a leadership petition in support of traditional marriage in Romania. The Alliance of Romania’s Families had collected 650,000 signatures to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot. That failed, due to geographic distribution of the signatures. But the Romanian legislature took up a measure, amending the nation’s Family Code, to define marriage as the “union freely consented to between a man and a woman.” WCF collected over 100 signatures of pro-family leaders and scholars in 22 countries. Our petition was presented to the Romanian government. The amendment was enacted shortly thereafter. This year, we did a similar petition against efforts to legalize same-sex marriage in Albania. The World Congress of Families seeks not to lead the international pro-family movement, but to facilitate communication and cooperation and to help to coordinate joint activities. Our efforts to forge such a movement aren’t limited to our Partners. We also work with pro-family groups like Cry for Life (the Netherlands), HLI Poland, Alliance for Romania’s Families, the Foundation for African Cultural Heritage, Campaign Life Coalition (Canada), European Forum for Human Rights and Family (France), Institute for Family Policy (Spain and Norway), The Spanish Family Forum and the Pro-Life World Congress (Spain). Click here for the World Congress of Families Partners flyer.

Praise For World Congress Of Families V 

Letter to WCF Managing Director Larry Jacobs November 13, 2009 Dear Larry, I have to start out with an apology; I have meant to write this letter ever since Amsterdam and am just now getting to it. I was so afraid that Amsterdam wouldn’t work – it was a risky venture with many possible pitfalls. Thanks to your and Allan’s wisdom and your great management skills, the event went off beautifully and was a resounding success. To be more specific – which I hope will help as you assess the impact of WCF V, I really liked the venue. The main auditorium was the right size for a family conference. All the participants got to know each other; we weren’t lost in the vastness of a mega-arena. I thought the size and configuration of the auditorium was just right for maximum effectiveness of the speeches and multi-media presentations. Having the organizational displays in the lobby outside the auditorium worked perfectly. I saw more interaction among the delegates around the booths than in previous WCFs and I saw more delegates visiting the booths. I thought the arrangement this year was just perfect in that regard – it provided maximum interaction among the delegates and participants. I thought the speeches this year were well-balanced –– there was a good mix of nationalities and topics that made for an exciting, very informative program. I agree with Allan that this WCF was the best yet! The closing session was dynamite! I especially liked the social events pre- and post- conference. The two receptions provided excellent opportunities for building networks among the international participants. I especially enjoyed socializing with people that I have known professionally – it helped to cement vital relationships that will be very fruitful in the future. I don’t think we’ll be able to truly measure the important benefit of the alignments that were forged during those times. I have been absolutely deluged with requests from participants for copies of my remarks and for the PowerPoint slides that I used. I hope that gives you an indication of the impact that just one speech at WCF V had on the pro-family delegates from around the world! I heard from numerous fellow delegates that they access my article and speeches via Internet and distribute them frequently to their constituencies. I hope it doesn’t sound like I am going overboard here. I just want to make sure that you understand the importance of the role you play in making all these WCF events “happen.” I know you had hundreds of crises to solve along the way and dozens of headaches from the stress and tension of resolving conflicts. And, I know that “Amsterdam” almost didn’t happen because of the radical opposition to the pro-family movement in that nation and throughout Europe. It took courage to undertake that venture and I am so proud of the Howard Center for backing the effort and for standing behind it during the hard times. I just want you to know that I think the conference justified their confidence in you and in the concept of WCF V in Amsterdam. I am glad to be a member of the World Congress of Families Management Committee as we look toward 2011 and future WCFs. It is exciting to see the maturation of this pro-family movement and the impact that it is having around the world in these perilous times. I am very pleased to be a vital part of the effort and to work alongside you and Allan in these important endeavors. By the way, I just sent you and Allan and John (Dr. John Howard) copies of my just-released book, Children at Risk. I hope you’ll enjoy reading it. Thanks for all you do! Janice Shaw Crouse, Ph.D. Executive Director and Senior Fellow The Beverly LaHaye Institute Concerned Women for America

 

BEST and WORST Developments Affecting The Family In 2009

THE BEST
 

1. World Congress of Families V – Our 5th World Congress drew delegates from 61 nations. Previous Congresses were held in Prague (1997), Geneva (1999), Mexico City (2004) and Warsaw (2007). With valiant support from the Dutch local organizing committee, in 2009, we brought the Congress to the heart of the social left in Europe. With legalized drugs, prostitution, abortion and homosexual “marriage,” it’s hard to imagine a city less hospitable to WCF’s natural-family philosophy than Amsterdam. Having the Congress there brought multiple challenges. The Dutch press was curious, if skeptical, and generally provided fair coverage. Among the achievements of this Congress was revitalizing the Dutch pro-family movement and changing the debate on family issues in the Netherlands. 2. Increase in Pro-Life Activities Worldwide – 2009 saw the largest pro-life demonstrations in history, including two huge marches in Madrid. (The last, on October 17, drawing as many as two million to the streets of Spain’s capital.) On January 22, more than 300,000 participated in the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. WCF Communications Director Don Feder was the keynote speaker at the March’s 37th Annual Rose Dinner. The Canadian National March for Life in Ottawa (May 14) drew the largest crowd ever – 12,000, half of them youth. Over 1,300 attended the 4th Pro-Life World Congress in Saragossa, Spain, and pro-lifers marched through the heart of Amsterdam on December 12. Far from being discouraged by a radical pro-abortion U.S. president, defenders of the unborn were re-energized. 3. U.N. Resolution In Favor of Traditional Practices – A Russian-sponsored resolution affirming “traditional values” as the foundation for human rights was adopted by the U.N. Human Rights Council, by a vote of 26 to 15. Feminists tried to muddy the waters with the absurd charge that the resolution condoned female genital mutilation and honor killings. In reality, those who voted for the measure were affirming parental rights, the right-to-life (from inception to natural death), freedom of religion and so on. Not since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), has the United Nations taken this forthright a stand in favor of the natural family. 4. Marriage Victories from California To Maine – In the U.S., state voters continued to reject pseudomarriage. The California Supreme Court upheld Proposition 8, an amendment to the state’s constitution limiting marriage to “a man and a woman,” enacted by the state’s voters in November 2008. Across the country, in November 2009, voters in Maine (one of the most liberal states) overturned a recent state law allowing same-sex marriage. The public sees the absurdity of equating sodomy with marriage, even if elites do not. 5. Release of “Demographic Bomb” – The sequel to “Demographic Winter” contains hard-hitting analysis of the consequences of rapidly falling birth rates, and demonstrates the complicity of the international population-control movement (including the United Nations Population Fund) in this demographic disaster in the making. The continuing success of these documentaries -- the first on falling human fertility -- is a positive step toward educating humanity about what could be the greatest crisis to confront us in this century.   6. Australia Takes Steps to Block Access to Overseas Sex Sites – After a year-long trial, the Australian government announced plans to block access to certain foreign Internet sites, particularly those whose content includes child sex abuse and sexual violence. “It is important that all Australians, particularly young children, are protected from this material,” said Communications Minister Stephen Conroy. “The Government believes that parents want assistance to reduce the risk of children being exposed to such material.” In 2004, in the United States alone, Internet pornography was a $10-billion-a-year business. 7. Lithuania Fights EU Over Homosexual Advocacy In The Schools – Increasingly, member states are standing up to attempts of the European Union to undermine their sovereignty and force them to engage in social experiments. The Lithuanian Parliament (Siemas) passed a law which prohibits promoting “homosexual, bisexual (or) polygamous relations” to minors. The EU Parliament retaliated (by a 349- 218 vote) by condemning the law and threatening to suspend Lithuania from the European Union. In turn, the Siemas has called on the Lithuanian government to ask the European Court of Justice to determine the lawfulness of the EU proclamation. The people of Europe are resisting the EU bureaucracy’s drive to sweep aside the moral code which has governed the continent for more than a millennium. 8. Outcome of the Boissoin Case in Canada – After a seven-year struggle, the free-speech rights of Stephen Boissoin, a former pastor, were upheld by the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench. In 2002, Boissoin wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper in Red Deer, Alberta, warning of the negative effects of the homosexual agenda and the way militants are targeting youth. On the complaint of a university professor, a Human Rights Commission ordered the youth worker to pay a hefty fine, publish an apology, and refrain from further criticism of homosexuality. On December 3rd, the Alberta court threw out the verdict, partially vindicating the free-speech rights of profamily advocates. 9. Italy’s Resistance to the Order To Remove Crucifixes From Schools – Italy’s Constitutional Court rejected a directive from the European Court of Human Rights to remove crucifixes from its school. The Italian Court held that when ECHR rulings conflict with that nation’s constitution they “lack legitimacy.” The decision signals the growing resistance of more conservative governments to moves by the EU’s secularist elite to sweep away their norms and traditions. 10. Palin’s Prominence – The continuing popularity of former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, 2008 Republican Vice Presidential nominee, is a victory for the pro-family movement. Outspokenly pro-life and pro-marriage, Palin’s book has been #1 on The New York Times best-sellers list since its publication on November 17. In the week it was released, “Going Rogue” sold 469,000 copies. While the mainstream media continue to call her a “polarizing figure,” Palin has the most enthusiastic following of any potential conservative presidential candidate for 2012.

THE WORST

 

1. Barack Obama, The Most Anti-Family President in U.S. History – In one of his first official acts, Barack Obama reversed the Mexico City Policy and began sending hundreds of millions of tax-dollars to international organizations promoting abortion. His Science Czar, John Holdren, once suggested that if the population crisis became sufficiently severe, forced abortions could be justified under the U.S. Constitution. His health care would ration medical services to the elderly. Speaking to the homosexual Human Rights Campaign in September, the president said he looked forward to the day when the union of two men or two women was afforded the same dignity and respect as normal marriage. Obama is a hard-core ideologue who does not deviate one iota from the left’s social agenda. Sadly, most voters who elected him had no idea what they were getting. 2. China Celebrates Contraception Day – In the People’s Republic of China, World Contraception Day (September 26) is a combination Christmas, Chinese New Year and Cinco de Mayo. Beijing’s draconian one-child-per-family policy has made it the darling of the contraception crowd. Government officials boast that since the program’s inception, it has prevented an estimated 400 million births. One result is the growing imbalance of men to women in the Chinese population – 124 male births for ever 100 females (due to sex-selection abortions and female infanticide). It’s no coincidence that the most totalitarian regime on earth is also the most gung-ho for limiting family size by compulsion. 3. Copenhagen Summit A Shill for Population Control – Global warming is the left’s latest excuse for population-control. Writing in The National Post (Canada’s largest newspaper) on the eve of the Summit, columnist Diane Francis raved: “The world’s other species, vegetation, resources, oceans, arable land, water supplies and atmosphere are being destroyed and pushed out of existence as a result of humanity’s soaring population rate.” China was clearly the star of Copenhagen. A representative of the U.N. Population Fund said, “China has had the most successful family planning policy in the history of mankind.” Calling forced abortions and sterilizations “family planning” is like calling Tiananmen Square community relations. 4. UNFPA Official Calls Family Breakdown A “Triumph” For Human Rights – Speaking at a colloquium in Mexico City, Arie Hoekman, a representative of the UN Population Fund from the Netherlands, said high rates of divorce and illegitimacy represent the triumph of “human rights” over “patriarchy.” It’s rare for a UN official to speak so candidly of his contempt for the family (which the 1948 UN Declaration of Human Rights calls the “natural and fundamental group unit of society”), this despite the reams of social science data showing that, by every available measure, children fare better in intact families. 5. Expansion of Hate Crimes Law in U.S. – In October, President Obama signed into law a measure extending federal hate-crimes protection to so-called sexual orientation – homosexuality, bi-sexuality, transgenderism and other abnormalities -- protection not afforded the elderly or military personnel. Tim Wildmon, president of the American Family Association (a WCF partner), charged that the new law “creates a kind of caste system in law enforcement, where the perverse thing is that people who engage in non-normative sexual behavior will have more legal protection than heterosexuals.” It’s also feared the law will be used to persecute clergy and others who object to homosexuality on ethical or religious grounds. 6. British Prime Minister Pledges To Force Civil Unions on Eastern Europe – British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has pledged to force nations of Eastern Europe to accept “civil unions” (gay marriage in all but name) contracted in the United Kingdom. “If we could show Eastern Europe as well as Western Europe that this respect for gay people is due, that would be really important,” Brown insisted. Regrettably, the PM didn’t indicate the basis on which said respect is “due” – the high rates of sexually-transmitted diseases among homosexuals, the attacks of militant gays on traditional religion, or indulging in practices which range from the bizarre to the loathsome. 7. Billionaires Push Abortion and Contraception – At a private meeting in May, some of the wealthiest people in America decided to direct much of their charitable giving to population control. Calling themselves the Good Club, the informal gathering included billionaires like Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, George Soros, Ted Turner and David Rockefeller, Jr. The group agreed with the recommendation that their spending be directed toward showering contraceptives and abortion services on the Third World. Gates told them that the world’s population will peak at 9.3 billion (up from 6.6 billion today), but, through their good work, can be capped at 8.3 billion. He neglected to explain why every advance in human history has paralleled population growth – or the fact that, unless reversed, falling birth rates will lead to depopulation. The group should be called the Good Intensions Club – as in the road to hell is paved with. 8. Obama’s “Safe-Schools” Czar Promoted Pedophilia -- Of all the ideologues in the Obama administration, perhaps the most egregious is gay activist Kevin Jennings, ironically named the Safe Schools Czar. Jennings was a member of the group ACT UP (described by Bill Donohue of the Catholic League as “urban terrorists”), and the founder of a national organization promoting homosexuality in the schools. As a teacher at a private school in the 1980s, Jennings not only failed to report a case of statutory rape, but encouraged a 15- year-old to continue having sex with an adult male. Unfortunately, Al Capone isn’t available to serve as Obama’s the Safe Streets Czar. 9. New Spanish Abortion Law – Despite massive protests against the measure, in December, the Spanish Congress passed a new law further expanding legal abortion in the nation. Once the law takes effect, abortion will be allowed for any reason up to the 14th. week of gestation and for other reasons up to the 22nd. week. The nation’s Socialist government is apparently not satisfied with 100,000 abortions a year in Spain under the current law. Spain has one of the lowest birth rates in the world (1.1 children per woman, versus a replacement-level rate of 2.1). While they promote the slaughter of the unborn, the socialists are giving the families of newborns a 2,500-Euro subsidy (increased to 3,500 for families with more than three children) – which makes sense only to a socialist. Besides the immorality of facilitating 100,000 deaths a year, the Spanish government is abetting national suicide. 10. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Says Contraception Is An Economic Stimulus Measure – In trying to explain why funding for contraception was part of President Obama’s first economic stimulus package, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said contraception would reduce spending by the states. Typical of the left, Pelosi views children as a burden, never as an asset. In the United States, the current recession (especially in the housing market) is attributed in part to an aging population. Perhaps the Speaker can explain how the Social Security system can be kept solvent by all of the people who are never conceived or born.

 

World Congress of Families: Profiles in Leadership

This continues our regular feature celebrating the women and men who have contributed to the growing success of the international pro-family movement.

Tim Wildmon

Phyllis Schlafly

Euthanasia Prevention Coalition Fights Assisted Suicide In U.S. and Canada 

The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (EPC) achieved a partial victory on Dec. 31, when the Montana Supreme Court ruled that there is no constitutional right to socalled physician-assisted suicide in the state. At the same time, Montana’s high court held that nothing in state law prohibits “aid in dying.” In a Dec. 31 press release, EPC noted that the holding “ignores the practical realities of ensuring patient safety from over-eager heirs, new ‘best friends’ and others who might benefit from the patient’s death.” Click here for the Coalition’s press release on the decision in Baxter v. Montana. The Coalition, a WCF Partner, is also fighting Bill C-384, a bill before the Canadian Parliament which would legalize both euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. Writing in Canada Politics Examiner, Brian Lilley, Ottawa Bureau Chief for Newstalk 1010 in Toronto, commented: “Canada does need a full and frank discussion on dying with dignity, but I fail to see what is dignified about dying by lethal injection at the hands of a doctor sworn to promote and sustain life, not take it.” On November 13-14, 2009, EPC and the Manning Centre co-hosted the Wilberforce Weekend at the University of Ottawa. More than 100 from the United States and Canada attended the conference, which focused on euthanasia and assisted suicide. One outcome was an ongoing committee to create a united effort among groups working for common goals here. Click here for the website of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition.

WCF Communications Director Tackles Copenhagen Summit 

Women and The Culture Of Life 

Excerpts from the Speech of Janet A. Morana at World Congress of Families V “Feminism, at its best, listens to the voices of women. It listens with new ears, not pre-judging what it will hear, nor trying to make it fit into any mold. True feminism is attuned to what women are saying about what helps them and what hurts them. It is ready to hear them, even when their message presents new challenges to the rest of us. It listens courageously. It’s time for a new feminism, ready to hear the message that women around the globe are raising with greater frequency and intensity than ever. That message is, ‘I regret my abortion.’ Whether in private or in public, women are expressing the shared experience that abortion represents a dead end, an empty promise, a failed experiment, a false hope. For countless women, not only did abortion not solve their problems, but it only created new ones, of a physical, emotional, and spiritual nature.” “Perhaps most fundamental, however, among the kinds of damage that abortion does to women is the powerful statement it makes about their very nature and role in society. The abortion mentality looks on pregnancy as a disease. It does not take women seriously in their unique privilege and power of bearing new life! As Rosemary Bottcher, a Feminist for Life, has written, ‘Abortion reduces women to the status of sex machines which can be “repaired' if necessary. Abortion helps ease his (the man's) anxiety about sex and relieves him of the last vestige of responsibility. At last sex is really free!’ Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a founder of the women’s rights movement, put it this way: ‘When we consider that women are treated as property, it is degrading to women that we should treat our children as property to be disposed of as we see fit.’ (Letter to Julia Ward Howe, October 16, 1871, recorded in Howe's diary at Harvard University Library).” “Women, therefore, are at the forefront both of bearing the damage of the culture of death and forging the way to a new Culture of Life. While there are many life issues – indeed, any issue worthy of consideration is worthy precisely because it impacts human life – it is abortion which stands at the center of the conflict between these two cultures and worldviews. No human relationship is more basic than that between a mother and her own child, and it is only when we can maintain peace and harmony in that relationship that we can learn how to maintain peace and harmony between ethnic groups, economic sectors of society, and nations. Women will lead the way more effectively the more they can be healed from the negative impact abortion has had upon them. This involves both a psychological and spiritual healing, facilitated by the support of others in their communities and the expert help of those who understand their wounds. This is at the basis of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign, a joint project of Priests for Life and Anglicans for Life, by which the large numbers of women who are saying ‘I regret my abortion’ are organizing themselves to speak that message more loudly and effectively. The Campaign’s goal is first of all to extend the opportunity for healing to all who have lost a child to abortion. The Campaign likewise aims to raise awareness of the harm abortion does to women, and to provide, to those who are ready to do so, the opportunity to share publicly their testimony of pain and of healing. These testimonies are shared in churches, on television and radio programs, on the Internet, and at public gatherings all around the world. At the annual March for Life in Washington DC, women and men who have lost children to abortion lead the way at the front of that march, holding signs that say ‘I Regret My Abortion’ and ‘I Regret Lost Fatherhood’. At the conclusion of the march, they stand outside the Supreme Court and share their testimonies one by one in the presence of the marchers and the media.” “To be pro-life is to be pro-woman. We do not say, ‘Love the baby and forget about the mother.’ Rather, we say, ‘Why can't we love them both?’ We can and we must. To harm one is to harm the other; to love and serve one is to love and serve the other. The destinies of mother and child are inextricably bound to one another. ‘Pro-woman’ is not simply a project, strategy, or package for the pro-life message. Rather, it is that message. Whenever someone speaks up for the equal dignity of the unborn child, that person is advancing the status of women. Whenever someone reveals the horror of abortion, that person is counteracting the exploitation of women, so many of whom are deceived into thinking that abortion is no horror at all. Whenever the pro-life message is advanced, women are ennobled. For that we will continue to work, and in that we rejoice!” Janet A. Morana is the Executive Director of Priests for Life (PriestsForLife.org) and the Co-Founder of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign (SilentNoMoreAwareness.org) Click here to read her remarks to World Congress of Families V in their entirety.

 Thank you to all WCF PARTNERS for your continuing support