The speakers are booked, the brochures are circulating, the website, www.life2003.ca, is up, and we are in high activity mode in preparation for Life 2003: Silent No More. The national pro-life conference which takes place in Edmonton from Nov. 6th to 8th is hosted by Alberta Pro-Life Alliance Association. Our co-sponsors, LifeCanada, Campaign Life Coalition, and the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition are also busy promoting this important event.

“Silent No More” is the name of a campaign launched this year in the United States to expose the pain and grief experienced by women who have had abortions. One of the leaders of the campaign is David Reardon, director of the Elliot Institute and keynote speaker at the conference. Dr. Reardon is the leading researcher and author on post-abortion grief and healing. His most recent book, Forbidden Grief: The Unspoken Pain of Abortion, tells the stories of post-abortive women and their struggles to overcome the painful results of the trauma of abortion. Dr. Reardon came to attention in Canada this past May, when the Canadian Medical Association Journal featured a study by the institute which showed that women who have abortions experience more psychiatric admissions than women who complete their pregnancies.

We chose the theme, “Silent No More” because we think it reflects a great deal about the state of our country and our movement. There is the guilt, grief, medical side effects and complications that no one speaks about in official circles, be it medical or media. There are the legions of Canadians who do not support the current tax-funded, legal until birth abortion policy but do not raise their voices in protest. And finally, there are those of us who work in the pro-life arena but struggle to take our message outside the movement to reach the vast majority of Canadians.

We think our varied program addresses these areas. Scott Klusendorf, a high-energy pro-life apologist from Stand to Reason, will equip us to defend pro-life principles to family, friends, and even rabid post-modern atheists. Janet Epp
Buckingham, a lawyer with the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, will examine how the law and courts can be used to help in our campaign to restore dignity to all human lives. If you think cloning is the ultimate indignity to humanity, you are behind the times. Richard Doerflinger, a bioethicist with the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, will enlighten us about “Cloning and Beyond”, a look at the cutting edge of research to create human (or is it?) life. We’ll bring you a group of young Alberta activists who are firing up young pro-lifers across the province to defend and promote the sanctity of life and one of their mentors, Bryan Kemper of Rock for Life. That’s just a sample of our program. We’ll also have our Silent Auction, Back Page Challenge, and plenty of time for visiting with other pro-lifers from across the province and the country.

Alberta has not hosted a national conference since 1996. We encourage you to come to this informative and stimulating event — an event which will re-invigorate those who have spent years in this work, and will spark new interest in those who are new to the pro-life arena.

We have tried to keep the cost affordable and we have reduced rates for young people. Please promote this event in your community, through your churches and church groups. Help sponsor young people to come to this conference. For that matter, encourage your pastor or your doctor to attend. David Reardon’s talk will enlighten them about how to help post-abortive women come to terms with their experience.

Let’s all resolve to be Silent No More.

Joanne Byfield is LifeCanada’s Alberta rep