Lisa Queen & Jessica O’Donnell | Reporters
On Thursday 12th October, four pupils attended a pro-life conference held by the SPUC (Society for the Protection of Unborn Children), along with our very own Mrs Glen, as part of their Religious, Moral and Philosophical Studies course. This conference took place in St Ninian’s High School, whose pupils also took part.
SPUC involved a captivating speech from their keynote speaker, Stephanie Gray, whose presentation was aptly named ‘Love Unleashes Life: Learning from Heroes and Role Models’. Pupils learned the thought provoking arguments as to why abortion should not be legal.
Comparing the difficult situation of abortions to homelessness, modern day slavery and bullying, Stephanie Gray brought the pupils attention to the need of a ‘response to injustice’ – saving and improving lives. She claimed that in order to make a difference, the individual needed to possess three main qualities: the ability to put others ahead of themselves, perspective, and the ability to always do the right thing, even when it is hard.
In terms of the ability to put others ahead of themselves, Stephanie Gray used a representative story of a car crash, in which there was a mother and a baby trapped inside. She proposed that, of course, our first instinct would clearly be to save the baby, taking into account its vulnerability. This was a clever way of explaining to us how in a real situation, the young will always come first – this therefore brought us to the question considering a baby which hasn’t been born yet: does it still deserve the same priority despite the fact it is still in the mother’s womb?
Continuing this argument, Gray asked the pupils striking questions, such as ‘Do you believe in human rights?’ Typically provoking the argument that the unborn child is not technically a human yet – to which she simply asked ‘What are the embryos parents?’.
Rounding off her point, Gray compared the potential of an embryo to a picture which has come straight out of a polaroid camera; it has the ability to reach its full capacity, and just needs some time to develop – if we stop it’s ability to do so, such as ripping the picture and throwing it away, then we have stopped that gift of potential prematurely and will never know what it may have become.
While touching on perspective, Gray spoke of the response that some humans have difficult situations affecting how they live. Showing a video of Nick Vujicic, an Australian man who was born with no arms or legs, Gray put forward the point that despite the difficulties we may face, how we address it and deal with it is the most important part. If we avoid the ‘difficulty’, such as aborting a child who would have otherwise been born with a major handicap, we will never have known what could’ve been, and perhaps worse, we have given up before trying in the first place.
In the video, Nick spoke of his anger towards his handicap in his younger years, but also of how he eventually realised how capable and independent he actually was when he was determined to be as such. Nick, who is now a motivational speaker, claims that when we realise that we are capable of coping, ‘obstacle becomes opportunity’. This emotional video opened many pupils’ eyes to how a positive attitude and determination can make a difficult life better, and therefore, how although having a child in difficult circumstances will be hard, overall it will be rewarding.
Speaking of the last important quality, which was the ability to do the right thing even when it was hard, Gray addressed the fact that things such as poverty, rape and health issues are prominent reasons why people may see abortion as plausible. Gray told the pupils of an inspiring story of a woman named Leanna, who was kidnapped and raped at only twelve years old, and became pregnant. Leanna decided to have her baby despite the trauma she believed it would cause her, and to this day claims ‘I saved my daughter’s life, but she saved mine’. The example of Leanna put across the point of how the child will always be unconditionally loved by the mother, despite the circumstances in which they were born – therefore, despite the trouble you may face when having a child, it is still the right thing to allow them that life.
After the fascinating speech from Stephanie Gray, the pupils were invited to ask her questions. Many points were discussed, such as the extent of the father’s involvement when making the decision of an abortion, and how the right of a human to life clashes with the right of an animal to life. The conference was then ended with a peaceful service in St Ninians’ oratory, were pupils were given time to reflect on the information they were given.
A fantastic time was had by all; it was an extremely informative and interactive day.
