Reverend Ed Hird is the Rector of St. Simon's Anglican Church in North Vancouver.In 2005, His parish was essentially forced out of their former property after the New Westminster Synod voted to bless same-sex unions, and they would not go along with that decision. The community decided to join the Anglican Coalition of Canada, which seeks to be faithful to traditional values.
He is the author of The Battle for the Soul of Canada, and a Past President of Alpha Canada, which seeks to reach unevangelized adults. His blog says that he is presently writing his third book.
Before I became a Christian, I was probably mildly pro-abortion in the sense of being persuaded by the life and health of the mother argument. I had no idea that the term 'health' was so broad that one could drive a mac truck through it.
My pro-life views developed gradually after my conversion at age 17 during the Jesus movement. I did not think a lot about the abortion issue, until meeting Christian leaders like Pastors Bob Birch and Bernice Gerard who gave presentations on the issue. I began to read books on the issue, and was shocked by the callousness of our culture.
Listening to and reading Dr. James Dobson also got me thinking. Books that shaped my thinking were the Rev John Powell's 'The Silent Holocaust', Rites of Life by Landrum Shettles MD and David Rorvik, and 'Abortion's Second Victim' by Pam Koerbel. My involvement in Prayer Ministry/Counselling over the years showed me how many people, including Christians, secretly suffer with the after-effects of abortions.
I began to attend pro-life marches and rallies. Lifeline was a significant witness for a period of years. In more recent years, I have been impressed by the role of the internet in raising awareness of life issues. Faytene Kryskow of MyCanada has been a real leader in that area. Recently I have been impacted by the testimony of Gianna Jenssen, an abortion survivor, and have passed on her online story to many others by e-mail. The work of the crisis pregnancy centres has been very significant and sacrificial. Adding guilt to women who have been through abortions rarely helps them work through the deep trauma that they have experienced. There is healing and forgiveness to be found in Jesus' shed blood.
I see the yearly destruction of over 100,000 Canadians through abortion to be a tragedy. Canada at this point has largely hardened its heart and does not want to even think about this issue. My hope is that Canadians will eventually see that there is a better way to solve our societal crises than the elimination of our youngest Canadians. Science and time is on the side of the likelihood that Canadians will eventually recognize the personhood of the unborn child, and move towards legally protecting our most vulnerable citizens. When men start standing up for the women in their lives, and when women begin standing up for the rights of vulnerable children, then Canada will turn the corner and become a truly compassionate nation.
