CNS ILLUSTRATION | EMILY THOMPSON
This illustration depicts an unborn child in the womb, a child must be protected and valued, says pro-life advocate Stephanie Gray.
September 26, 2011
THE B.C. CATHOLIC
VANCOUVER — Stephanie Gray is known as passionate and controversial, and she makes no apologies when it comes to campaigning against abortion. The co-founder of the Calgary-based Canadian Centre for Bioethical Reform (CCBR) presented that passion in a presentation at Holy Family Church Sept. 1.
Her 45-minute talk centred on how scientific information and understanding is important to advocate the pro-life cause.
Gray started the talk by comparing the unborn to the news story of the trapped Chilean miners from last year.
"We rushed to their aid," she said. "Could we fathom blowing up the miners?"
Gray used the illustration of the miners' heroic story as a comparison to what she called "abortion insanity" in Canada. The world jumped into action and did everything possible to bring the miners back alive. The miners were helpless and completely dependent on society.
This, she said, was comparable to the dependency of an unborn child on its mother to carry it to term, and how many women choose abortion over the struggle of pregnancy.
"Are the unborn as valuable as the Chilean miners?"
The problem, Gray said, is that a large portion of the population believes a fetus isn't a human being. That's an incorrect assumption and even unscientific, because when life is conceived it immediately has all its genetic information.
"Living things come from other living things," she said. When two living creatures create life the new life is expected to resemble its creators. Therefore when the zygote is created with its genetic information it is (or should be) considered human.
Gray compared the development of an unborn child in the womb with the development of a Polaroid photo. A Polaroid picture can take five to 10 minutes to develop, with fragments of the picture showing in that time.
Likewise, fragments of life start showing at eight weeks with the development of hands, toes and fingers. There are also signs of breathing.
"Most of society doesn't see the unborn as a developing human."
Gray said pro-lifers cannot hide the fact that unplanned pregnancies are never easy. "The right thing is so difficult."
Yet, many everyday people do good in spite of the difficult obstacles set against them. "They put others first, over comfort and even their lives. They inspire us do 'hard' things."
One of those hard things is Gray's continuous advocacy. Some view her as an extremist, especially for her use of graphic abortion images. However she makes no apologies for her work, or that of the CCBR.
"Effective reformers are usually not liked while alive. However reformers who are liked are usually not effective."
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