Ottawa | The tension was palpable yesterday in front of the Canadian Parliament where many pro-choice activists were heard from the 25 participants.^And The National March Against Abortion.

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Several anti-demonstrators said they were concerned about the announced rollback of a woman’s right to voluntary termination of pregnancy (abortion) south of the border.

There is a stronger pro-choice reaction to what is happening in the United States. We fear that this movement will follow in Canada,” Emily Hummels points out, while around her protesters chant “We are moving forward, we are not retreating!” “.

Emily wears a red cloak, a symbol inspired by the novel The Scarlet Maidby Margaret Atwood, in which the religious extremists who have seized power in the United States treat women like babysitters, forced to procreate.

catholic church

Teresa Thompson, who hails from Peterborough “walks for life,” says her ideas are not based on religion: “I just value the lives of unborn children,” she says.

But not far from her, priests in their husbands recite prayers as they walk with a delegation of students from a Catholic school in Kitchener bearing a cross.

Amid the crowd, Michael Wilson waves the Carillon-Sacre-Coeur flag, which he says symbolizes his desire to found a Catholic country in which abortion is not only illegal, but completely unimaginable.

American influence

Voluntary termination of pregnancy is back in the news, as the US Supreme Court prepares to overturn a landmark 1973 decision that legalized it in the United States.

The leak revitalized the anti-abortion movement in Canada, giving it “courage and hope” that its voice will be heard and its goals achieved, according to Jacques Fonseca, director of political activities for the anti-abortion “Campaign Life Coalition.”

A lawyer from Louisiana, where elected officials gave their approval last week to a bill banning abortion, even participated in yesterday’s event. M^And David Scotton came to talk about adoption as an alternative to abortion.

solid lobby

In Canada, the anti-abortion lobby relies on several pro-life MPs to advance its cause:

More than a third of Tory MPs have been won, and the movement plays a strategic role in the current Tory leadership race.

This political context is of great concern to women’s rights organizations.

“I think it’s a right that has not been earned, and it can be revoked at any time,” worries Elizabeth Vince, who has come from Montreal to participate in a counter-protest.

– With the clouds of St. Pierre

Recruitment of anti-abortion activists at school

Far from collapsing, the anti-abortion lobby believes its future with direct recruitment from schools.

Edgar Acosta explains that he founded a rosary club at his Catholic high school in Ottawa to share his faith and convictions.

“Life is sacred,” he said. If abortion is acceptable, then killing a human is acceptable. »

Edgar participates in a “pro-life” youth summit organized in a church in the capital near two elementary schools. Hundreds of teens from all over the country participate.

In the crowded church, a group of young girls sing religious songs while accompanies themselves on the guitar while waiting for the speakers’ sermons. Their kneeling comrades pray.

“My goal in life is to see an end to abortion in Canada before I die,” says one of the organizers, Giulia Bissonnette.

school activity

Most of the participants are members of “pro-life clubs” set up in public schools. Anti-abortion groups, such as the Oxford County Right to Life Group, also hold poster contests in elementary schools that include prize money ranging from $50 to $150.

Thus every year many school delegations participate in the National March Against Abortion, much to the disgust of Joan Hummels, which she faced in the ranks of the anti-abortion protesters.

He complains that “these schools use public money to organize a private demonstration against abortion.”