CALLS are going out to Catholic doctors, dentists, lawyers, accountants and other business people to donate their services to clients of local crisis pregnancy counsellors in a bid to reduce abortions.
The request by Brisbane’s Rally for Life organiser and Cherish Life Queensland state president Teresa Martin is made in a newsletter What Your Church Can Do To Help Stop Abortion.
It comes as part of a broader campaign of practical ways to galvanise support for Church teachings against abortion.
Keynote speaker at the Rally For Life, Brisbane archdiocese’s apostolic administrator Bishop Geoffrey Jarrett, called on “anyone concerned with defending the value of human life” to attend the event at the city centre’s Queen’s Park starting at 2pm on Saturday, February 11.
Bishop Jarrett said a major theme in his rally address would be “the defence of human life is the basic social justice issue of the times”.
Madeleine Weidemann, 24, who features in the award winning notbornyet television advertisement, will also address the Queen’s Park gathering.
Ms Weidemann will talk of her unexpected shame and grief when, as an 18-year-old, she had an abortion.
Ms Martin said the annual rally was an important way to oppose the liberalisation of Queensland’s abortion laws.
“However, we need to be focussing more on those Church members who don’t come to such gatherings,” she said.
“Statistics show that in 2006 there were 621,000 Catholics living in Brisbane archdiocese.
“If even five per cent of these people were motivated to contact their MPs and express their opposition to abortion, we’d have much more impact on the political scene.”
To address this, CLQ has prepared What Your Church Can Do To Help Stop Abortion.
The newsletter discusses pastoral, educational and activist ways to fight abortion reform.
Bishop Jarrett said the faithful had a responsibility to be active in the defence of human life.
“People of any conviction that human life has intrinsic dignity and must be defended have a right and an obligation to express this conviction publicly,” he said.
“It’s an aspect of witness to the Gospel.
“It’s not just a Catholic issue but a Christian and human issue.
“To attend such a gathering is to protest at the hard-heartedness that, in the name of freedom and compassion, would actually extinguish the life of a human.”
Ms Martin said the introduction of more liberalised Queensland abortion laws similar to those passed in Victoria was “an ever present threat”.
“There has been talk the Bligh Government could still bring in such controversial legislation before it goes to the polls,” she said.
“This seems unlikely – but the pro-abortion groups are always pressuring the government to remove the remaining protections for the unborn in Queensland.
“What could happen though is a private member’s bill similar to the one passed on same-sex civil unions could be brought in to loosen our abortion laws.
“That’s why we’ve got to be on guard.”
Queensland Attorney-General Paul Lucas said such claims “are completely baseless”.
“The claims ignore Labor’s stated position of a conscience vote on the matter,” he said.
“Labor has no plan to amend or change the law around abortion.”
That National Civic Council now has a website votersforlife.org.au similar to one which successfully recruited more than 1000 volunteers to campaign against pro-abortion candidates in the 2010 Victorian election.
The Voters For Life website aims to guide voters in the coming Queensland elections towards pro-life candidates.
Organisations sponsoring the Rally For Life include CLQ, the NCC, Right to Life Australia, Australian Family Association, Family Voice Australia, Lutherans for Life, Catholic Medical Guild of St Luke, Fertility Care and JPII Centre for Family and Life.
