Display of 50,000 pink flags in Ontario park brings attention to need for a law against sex-selective abortion
You likely know that flag displays are a big part of the way we bring the pro-life message to communities across Canada. With your help, we have been able to organize more than 100 flag displays in the last 10 years. These little markers have become a symbol for the precious lives lost to abortion in Canada.
Today, we planted 50,000 pink flags in Central Park in Burlington, Ontario to bring attention to the issue of sex-selective abortion.
These 50,000 flags represent about half of the babies lost to abortion in Canada each and every year. They provide a beautiful but chilling reminder of what is at stake in our country with no abortion law.
We chose today for this display because October 11 is the International Day of the Girl, a day to highlight injustices faced by women and girls around the world. In Canada, that includes sex-selective abortion. Most people don’t realize this is an issue in Canada, a country that values and promotes gender equality. Yet we know from multiple studies that abortion disproportionately targets baby girls, even in Canada.
Several research studies over the past few years have shown an imbalanced birth rate in Canada, with boys outnumbering girls in a ratio that cannot be explained naturally. Researchers point to sex-selective abortion as a contributor to this imbalance. Multiple countries and organizations have condemned sex selection, yet our complete lack of abortion laws allows it to continue in Canada.
The flags planted today represent those unwanted baby girls and call for change. Canada is a country that values equality, and we need a law reflecting that, a law that bans sex-selective abortion.
Finding common ground with Canadians in the abortion debate
While all abortion wrongly takes a human life, sex-selective abortion is a specific piece of the abortion conversation where we have common ground with virtually all Canadians. Polls consistently show that about 90% of Canadians are opposed to sex-selective abortion. We need to make our neighbours aware that sex-selective abortion happens in Canada and ask them to join us in calling for its end. This flag display was a beautiful opportunity to do that.
More than 50 volunteers came out to help set up this display. Other volunteers were on site throughout the day to share information and a petition calling on our government to ban sex-selective abortion. Many encouraging conversations were had as people stopped to see what was going on and we were able to share the truth about this injustice in Canada.
Make it happen in your community!
We have flag display kits available in Manitoba, Alberta, BC, and Ontario that come with everything you need to host a display. To keep the momentum going, contact us at [email protected] to organize a flag display in your community.
More on sex-selective abortion can be found at DefendGirls.com, a website run by We Need a Law.