Stand for Life Amidst the Culture of Death

In addition to the unprecedented levels of farm murders and other violent crime in South Africa, an estimated 250 pre-born babies are being killed by abortion each day. Christians are urged to unite and take a stand for life amidst this culture of death by participating in either the National March for Life in Durban or a Life Chain in Cape Town, East London or Bloemfontein on, or near to, Sunday, 7 October.

Life Chain
Sunday, 7 October is International Life Chain Sunday. As many as a million Christians in approximately 1 600 locations worldwide have participated in Life Chains previously. The National March for Life is organised by the National Alliance for Life (NAL). The NAL is an affiliation of pro-life churches and organisations, formed in 1995. The Life Chain is an international prayer rally and peaceful placard protest against the abortion holocaust.

The Christian pro-life stance, that abortion is murder, is based on the fact that the Bible and medical science make clear: life begins at conception.

Rejecting Informed Consent
The pro-death culture was furthered by the Parliamentary Health Portfolio Committee’s formal rejection on 9 May of ACDP MP Cheryllyn Dudley’s Private Members Bill to Amend the CTOP (Abortion) Act. This Bill would have stopped some abortions and also saved some mothers lives by providing for ultrasounds and truly informative, mandatory counselling for all women considering abortion.It is interesting to note the pro-abortion bias of the Parliamentary Health Portfolio Committee in rejecting the Bill. Their Report stated that routine pre-abortion ultrasounds can “bias the content of counselling (which should be non-directive)” and “put pressure on the woman to change her decision, by facilitating feelings of guilt” in other words, that many women choose not to have an abortion after seeing their pre-born baby’s developing body on the screen! It should be noted that non-directive counselling is actually, by default, pro-abortion counselling, because not to explain the reality of the development of the baby in the womb and the physical and psychological risks of abortion for the mother, is to deliberately lie!

Promoting Euthanasia
A Bill that would also exacerbate this culture of death in South Africa was released in August by COPE MP Deidre Carter. Carter’s euthanasia or “Advance Health Care Directives” Private Members Bill, if accepted by Parliament, would be a stepping stone to legalising euthanasia. Carter’s euthanasia Bill was pushed by the pro-euthanasia lobby – Embrace Dignity. Carter also spoke at their International Federation of Right to Die Societies Conference, 6-9 September in Cape Town. The deadline for comment on this first draft was 22 August, but there will be further opportunity to make submissions.

Sanctity of Life
Both euthanasia and abortion target the weak and defenceless. Legal euthanasia puts the lives of the elderly, terminally ill and those with disabilities under threat. The pro-euthanasia lobby claims that the vulnerable would not be targeted, however the evidence from countries where euthanasia is legal, such as the Netherlands and Belgium, shows that thousands of patients have been euthanised without their consent by nurses or doctors.

Pro-life groups uphold the sanctity of life – that every life is valuable to God, from conception to natural death. Over 70 Crisis Pregnancy Centres, Mothers Homes and Baby Homes across South Africa provide women with loving alternatives and practical support, not just one choice – abortion – that pro-abortionists often coerce women into choosing. Doctors for Life and many other Christian groups each care for hundreds of orphans.

“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves.” Proverbs 31:8

Stand for Life
Abortion is also the violation of the most basic Constitutional right – the Right to Life of the pre-born. When a nation devalues it’s most helpless and innocent citizens and allows them to be slaughtered in their millions, it is no wonder that all other life is treated as cheap.It is an urgent priority for the Church to expose, oppose and end this genocide of children made in the image of God. Plan now to participate in the National March for Life or a Life Chain near you!

Stand for Life on Social Media
Join and Share the International Life Chain Sunday and National March for Life Event on Facebook here.

View and share the Life Chain promo video here.

View and share the National March for Life promo video here.

Pro-life sermons, Powerpoints, articles, books, DVDs, leaflets and posters are available to help you mobilise your congregation in the Fight for Life.

"Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, 'But we knew nothing about this', does not He who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not He who guards your life know it? Will not He repay each one according to what he has done?" Proverbs 24:11-12

National March for Life and Country-Wide Life Chain Details:

Durban: Sunday, 7 October, National March for Life, 2:00 - 5:00pm, corner of Centenary Blvd and Zenith Drive, near Gateway Mall, Umhlanga. Organised by the National Alliance for Life, Contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , 032 – 481 5550.

East London: Saturday, 6 October: 11:00-12:00, corner of Oxford Street and St Matthew's Roads. Contact Frans van Aardt: 082 774 6649.

Bloemfontein: Daily protests and prayer vigils from 6.30am to 10.30am outside the National District Hospital and Marie Stopes abortuary. Contact Faan Oosthuizen: 083 265 9395, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Cape Town: Sunday 7 October, 2:00 - 4:00pm. Traffic island in Buitengracht Street, near entrance to Waterfront. Contact: Africa Christian Action: 021 -689 4480 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .  

Taryn Lourens

International Co-ordinator

Christian Action Network
PO Box 23632
Claremont
7735 Cape Town
South Africa
Tel: 021-689 4481 
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Web: www.christianaction.org.za/
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