10 Φεβρουαρίου, 2021 - 9:12

Adelaide: Walk for Life 2021

Διαδώστε:

On Saturday 6th of February 2021, the organisation known as “Love Adelaide” organised the second annual “Walk for Life” rally, aimed at protesting against the scourge of abortion.
Held again in Pennington Gardens (in front of Adelaide Oval), more than 5000 people attended the event – a fact made all the more remarkable by the unseasonably cold and wet weather that presented on the day. Although many prayed for fairer weather, perhaps God in His providence allowed such conditions so as to highlight how strongly people felt about the issue – thus amplifying the effect of the message which may have otherwise been diluted by COVID limitations.

The timing of Walk for Life this year may also be ascribed to Providence. Due to the size and scale of the event, and with the added complexities that COVID-19 brings, planning for Walk for Life has been many months in the making and the date was fixed long ago. The Termination of Pregnancy Bill was originally scheduled to be held well before the Walk – first in December last year, but then moved to the first parliamentary sitting week of 2021 (the week before the Walk), and finally it was rescheduled to come just after the Walk (15th of February). The powerful witness of Saturday’s Walk will thus surely be fresh in the members’ minds as the House of Assembly begin their debate.

Those that were present heard from a number of speakers who all spoke inspirationally. The speeches were opened by Mr Martyn Iles, Managing Director of the Australian Christian Lobby, who spoke rousingly and encouraged our MPs to “love them both”. He was followed by upper house MPs Mrs Claire Scriven (ALP) and Dr Nicola Centofanti (Liberal), who together led the failed charge in the upper house to have the Bill amended to reduce its brutality. These were followed by two harrowing tales from people with first-hand experience – a grieving mother who suffered a late-term abortion, and a midwife who witnessed a failed abortion result in a child born alive and left to die (with added pressure from the doctor to fudge the gestational age on the report so that the live birth would not legally be required to be registered). We also heard the personal story of an infertile couple and their struggle to adopt – with the number of children offered for adoption plummeting since SA’s abortion laws were first liberalised. Finally, we heard from Federal Senator Alex Antic, a passionate advocate for life, who encouraged all in the pro-life movement to consider taking up arms in the political sphere as a longer-term strategy to defend life.

Following the speeches, the procession commenced, up King William Road, in front of Parliament House, and back across the footbridge to return to Pennington Gardens. SA Police facilitated the march by partially closing King William Road and North Terrace (perhaps the busiest intersection in the CBD). The procession was so long that the first marchers had arrived back at the gardens before the last had even started.

The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia’s District of Adelaide has been at the forefront of the battle against the Termination of Pregnancy Bill in SA, and there was again strong support shown at Saturday’s rally. Archepiscopal Vicar of the District, His Grace Bishop Silouan of Sinope, was given pride of place among the invited guests to the rally and was formally acknowledged by the event organisers. A number of our clergy were also present for the march, and many members of our Archdiocese volunteered their time to help coordinate the event – something that was made much more difficult and labour-intensive due to the burdensome COVID-19 measures that were required. Additionally, the Archdiocesan District also helped materially through the supply of dozens of tables, hundreds of chairs and several tents and barriers to facilitate the smooth running of the event.

In all, the event was a great success and a loud voice for the pro-life movement in South Australia – too loud for parliamentarians to simply ignore as they debate it in the weeks to come.

Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia – Archdiocesan District of Adelaide

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