The 13th ‘March for Life’ was organised in Paris on Sunday, the 20th of January. Thousands of people participated in a peaceful demonstration to protest against abortion and to stand up for the rights of unborn children. Helping the cause, a journalist for the French newspaper, Boulevard Voltaire wrote about the situation of abortion in France in contrast to other countries around the world.

In his article, Boulevard Voltaire comments on the pro-family politics of conservative governments that support the family while focusing specifically on the governments of the United States, Italy, and Hungary. The heads of state in these three countries, are opposed to abortion and promote a family-friendly programme.

In Hungary, for example, 4.8% of the GDP is ring-fenced to support families and the Italian head of state seems to have profited from Hungary’s example. Thanks to measures taken by the Italian Presidency, the number of abortions have declined from 40,500 in 2010 to 28,000 in 2017. Over the same seven-year time period, the number of registered marriages has increased while the number of divorces granted has also decreased.

In the US, the amount of abortions has never been as low as during the presidency of Donald Trump. Russia, the other “great power,” has also shown improvement in this area. The number of aborted babies fell from a high of 2,140,000  at the turn of the millennium to 850,000 in 2015.

Unfortunately, in France, the number of abortions has not decreased. There are still twice as many terminations of pregnancies in France than in either Italy or Germany. What’s more, free access to abortion services is heralded as a sign of development, liberty, and modernity.  

This kind of ideology must omen the self-destruction of society and is a sign of hopelessness as it denies life to future generations. To give birth to a child is to believe in the future.

It is not coincidental that the peoples or families that are most attached to their faith and culture have the most children. It would seem that a belief in God is fundamentally linked to a belief in the future, given that Christian, Jewish and Muslim families are usually more numerous than atheistic ones.  

In France, many left-wing politicians are opposed to new life and are against French traditions. An ex-minister, Yves Cochet wants to destroy the importance of family relationships. Once, he ventured to say that; “the first economic step is not giving birth to an extra child.” This anti-life ideology has been the base of “free thinking” for a hundred years. Cochet also recommended the French to have fewer children in order to have more space for arriving immigrants.

In contrast, there are a group of French people for whom, their country, their traditions and their children are a priority. They are the people who desire to pass on their values, customs, and culture to their offspring;  people who have faith in the future and wish to conserve a Christian France in a Christian Europe. It is these people that participate year after year in the ‘March for Life’ and keep the flame of hope alive in this “free and modern” country. While they are present, France is still not entirely lost.

Source: Boulevard Voltaire