Caribbean pro-life groups unite to fight abortion

PRO-LIFE advocates plan to form a united regional front against abortion. That strategy was one of the key decisions coming out of the Love, Life and Family Conference which ended yesterday at the Crowne Plaza in Port-of-Spain. Other issues to be tackled include broken families, the decrease in sacramental marriages, issues affecting poor women, the impact of crime and violence, and the lack of financial resources and education in Catholic schools. Participants were urged to add their voices and suggestions to a list to be presented at a conference of bishops scheduled to be held in Trinidad in January. At that conference, a strategic plan will be formulated for promotion of a culture of love and life. The three-day conference ended with a call for society to embrace pro-life instead of pro-death.

There was also a focus on the media’s role in the issue and its pro-choice stance, as well as calls for a complete end to abortions and the banning of drugs used to promote abortions, as well as prosecution of people who perform abortions. It was agreed that the pro-life movement was being hampered because there was need for further education of Catholics and society on the whole, increased prayers, better organisational structures, a strategic plan, exposure of the myths surrounding abortion and  funding and support for young pregnant women. At the end of yesterday’s session Roman Catholic Archbishop Edward Gilbert said it was possible that the “enemy was within” since some persons were giving “lip service” to the pro-life issue, while practising and believing in something else. President of the  Washington-based pro-life,organisation, Family Life International (FLI), Fr Tom Euteneuer, reminded participants that they were fighting a spiritual war. He advised them to join together and derive joy and strength from their solidarity.