Sunday, July 29, 2012

Five Canadian Pro-Life Activists Who Need to Write Their Memoirs

I was just alerted to the publication of Abandoned, a book by American pro-life activist Monica Migliorino Miller.

Monica's claim to fame is rummaging through abortion clinic garbage to find improperly disposed fetuses, which she has photographed.

This made me think about how Canadian pro-lifers are not really that good at preserving their own memory.

We need to get the veterans to write about their pasts and their involvement in the pro-life movement so that future generations can learn from their experiences, and also so that future historians of social history can have some source material on which to base their studies when the history of the Canadian pro-life movement is written.

So here is my list of Five Canadian Pro-Lifers Who Need to Write Their Memoirs. Don't be too hurt if I didn't include you. One of the criteria is that you had to have been involved for at least the last 15-20 years.

5. Fr. Alphonse de Valk


Fr. de Valk has been a moral force in the pro-life movement. I would really like to hear his stories about what the clergy did in the face of the abortion onslaught. I know it wasn't much, but it needs to be recorded.

4. Gwen Landolt


She is the head of REAL Women of Canada. I remember reading that at one time during one of the Morgentaler cases, there was no pro-life presence during the legal arguments. She vowed never to let that happen again and that was her impetus in founding REAL Women. I would love to read her stories about her legal forays.

3. John Henry Westen


This probably won't happen until the lawsuit with Fr. Raymond Gravel is resolved. The thing about John Henry is that he's knows things. Lots. Lots of shady, shady things that he can't tell you. But he should. :)

2. Steve Jalsevac


Here's another guy who's been around forever. He's the operator of LifeSiteNews. He's been around since at least the 1980s. He was helping with clinic blockades and helping Fr. Colleton, and he was innovative in founding LifeSiteNews. I'm sure he has a ton of stories to impart.

1. Jim Hughes


The Grand-Daddy of the Pro-Life movement in Canada. He has been of Campaign Life Coalition since the 1970s. He really, really, needs to write his memoirs (attention CLC office people reading this!) He would have the low-down on all things pro-life in Canada since the legalization of abortion in 1969.




Canadian pro-lifers really should try to get them to share their stories, before all those stories are lost to amnesia or death. We need to start preserving pro-life history in order to learn from our past and make sure we don't repeat mistakes so that we can become more efficient.