A Pro-Life South Africa shouts out and leads the way. As the chant started, Pro… Life…Pro…Life, vibrating down and around the roads, the crowd stood united in the belief that life is precious and should be cherished. A message personally delivered by thousands of people that have suffered from the hurt and destruction caused by abortion. A wound carried by millions of South Africans, which remains hidden silently under a year full of constitutional struggle, fighting to stay afloat in the many social ills of our time.
The silence is broken as Pro-lifers come together each year on the first Sunday of every October, from every ethnic group KwaZulu Natal has to offer, and finds rhythm in unity and strength in forgiveness. The stage has been set with careful preparation, catering for over two thousand people walking towards a change, a change in South Africa’s constitution, a change from death to life.
It is the firm belief of the National Alliance for life and its growing number of supporters that life is precious and should be cherished at all stages, especially the vulnerable stage represented by the beginning. Life begins at conception, reiterated by the NAL chairperson, Dr. Albu Van Eeden, who explained the medical code of ethics on which the NAL has been formed and continues to promote through a voice that shouts out PRO–LIFE.
After the opening ceremonies of testimonies and speeches from the very much respected speakers, the crowd barrelled into position, armed with a sea of posters discharging views and alternatives to abortion. As the metro police took the lead and the crowd controlling marshals assumed their positions, the march began with prayer and unity. Our allocated 4.2 kilometres of streets and pavements that surrounds South Africa’s biggest and most intentionally recognised shopping centres, came to life…Pro…Life.
According to Health Minister, Aaron Motoaledi, statistics show that over 90 000 schoolgirls fell pregnant in South Africa in the year 2011, of which 77 000 had abortions at public facilities. Since the country’s legalisation of abortion through yet another uncalculated amendment in 1997, over 1, 2 million babies have been subjected to this destruction known as abortion. For Pro-Lifers, members of parliament and of local city councils, the tragic consequences of taking these unborn lives is coldly recognised as devastating. The national Alliance for Life make a stand to break the silence, informing fellow South Africans that the law on abortion is not effectively dealing with the social challenges facing the youth, and the crisis that the Department of Health is wrestling with.
An open invitation is now presented to the Concerned Young People of South Africa, to attend next year’s March for Life on the first Sunday in October 2015 and become a Pro-Lifer. The event was a tremendous success this year and preparations for next year’s march are already underway, making every effort to noticeably carry a message from the depths of our nation’s soul that longs for a change from death to life.
– by Christopher