Lloydminster Life Chain supporters march in front of City Hall on Oct. 1 as part of a peaceful protest against legalized abortion.
On the first Sunday of October, in over 300 communities across Canada, “Life Chains” were formed to peacefully protest legalized abortion.
Lloydminster is one of those communities, but instead of forming a chain they choose to walk together to raise awareness.
“There is sanctity in every life, even the life of a child who is unborn. And we’ve been given the gift of life, so it is our responsibility to protect that life,” said Lloydminster Life Chain coordinator, Deanna Alford.
“I understand that a woman’s body is the home of an unborn child and there are so many mitigating factors in her life, or the life of the father but at the end of the day the child, who has no voice, and has no ability to protect itself needs somebody to be their voice, and to be their advocate.”
A large group of like-minded people gathered in front of City Hall on Oct. 1 to pray together before setting out with signs to march along Highway 16, where they walked for about an hour.
“We live in a culture of death now … I see your heads nodding,” Alford said to the protest attendees.
“It seems as though we’re a throw-away culture—not only with material things, but with our own children. And for whatever reason a woman and her partner, or a woman on her own decides to have an abortion. You can be certain she doesn’t make that decision too lightly.”
Alford says she got involved, not to persecute mothers faced with the difficult decision, but to support them because it’s something that can affect them for years to come.
“I became involved because I always felt we needed to stand up for life and I always pray for the unborn, and certainly pray for young mothers and young parents who are struggling. The first thing I would do is demonstrate compassion and love to the mother,” said Alford.
“Anybody who is contemplating an abortion is not in a good place. I fear for her, in that—in the short term if she felt that aborting this child would make my life easier, she may believe that, but research has shown that mothers who abort children are often haunted by their actions for the rest of their lives. I would hate for a woman to have such deep regret.”
Alford decided to get involved with Life Chain in 2019 because it is an issue that is close to her heart.
“I just decided that I needed to put into action where my heart was on the issue. And I could see that Life Chain certainly needed more people to kind of help it out, and get the message out there,” explained Alford.
Life Chain started in 1987 with a small pro-life group in Yuba California and for the last 20 years, groups in Canada have been organizing Life Chain events on the first Sunday in October.
