Conference teaches pro-life apologetics

TORONTO - High school students flocked to Toronto’s University of St. Michael’s College to learn how they can engage with what Paul Klotz calls “the most important human rights and social justice issue of our time” — the right to life.

Klotz is the executive director of the Toronto Right to Life Association, the educational arm of the pro-life movement in the GTA.

On Feb. 20, the association ran its fifth annual Respect for Life High School Student Leadership Conference, a Student Life Link event.

The event was also sponsored by the National Life Campus Network and the University of Toronto Students for Life. About 230 people, many students from the Toronto and York Catholic school boards, attended.

“We have many programs to educate youth and adults on the inherent human right to life,” said Klotz.

Speakers shared with students the ways in which they should communicate with those involved with a crisis and pregnancy and techniques of pro-life apologetics, including how they can defend and promote the pro-life position. Students also learned how they can continue supporting the pro-life position, which includes establishing pro-life clubs on their campuses and joining the national March for Life in Ottawa or its local counterparts.

“Canada needs to see not only that this is not a settled issue, but that the pro-life community is resilient and is growing,” said Klotz.

“Establishing a life-respecting cultural majority represents reaching the pinnacle of the human rights journey.”

The keynote speaker was Daniel Gilman, University of Ottawa Students for Life alumni. Gilman emphasized that the great human rights battles were not only fought by the famous advocates, but also by many others who did their own small part.

Other guest speakers included Debbie Fisher, who shared her testimony from her own abortion experience; Enza Rattenni, executive director of Aid to Women; and Rebecca Richmond, executive director of the National Campus Life Network.

Klotz hopes students walked away from the conference with a “conviction that all human beings have an inherent right to life and that right to life is the ultimate human right and that we, as a community, need to do all we can to protect and promote that right.”

For more information, visit www.righttolife.to.