On Saturday, this year’s March for Life took place in Ljubljana, which was organised by the Coordination of Civil Society Organisations in Support of the Protection of Human Life from Conception to Death. This year, the March for Life was held under the slogan “Equality begins before birth.” There were thousands of people gathered at the march on Sunday, but unfortunately, it was also attended by several dozen violent protesters who shouted slogans against life, motherhood and families – while proclaiming themselves to be the spokespeople of tolerance and equal rights for all.
The March for Life is a global civil initiative, born out of a desire to raise public awareness of the beauty and dignity of every human life. The March for Life is growing strongly in numbers from one year to the next and will continue to exist until abortion becomes something unthinkable. “We walk together in support of all unborn children and their mothers and fathers who are in distress. We are working to equip people to courageously stand up for every human life from conception to natural death. We want the message of the value of every human being to reach all Slovenians,” reads the website of the Slovenian organisers of the March for Life, Pohodzazivljenje.si. And on Sunday, the Week for Life, which is also organised by the Movement for Life (“Gibanje za življenje”), began as well.
The main part of the programme began at 10 a.m. on Sunday, with musical guests Vinko Cankar (a former member of the band Čuki), Nada Žgur with the children’s choir, Marko Nzobandora and Simona Plut, and participants in the March for Life even had the opportunity to listen to personal stories and speeches from those present at the gathering. “This is about human life. We, people, are not a choice; no one has the right to take our lives away,” stressed Urška Cankar Soares, who also said, among other things, that we need real men: “Dear men, you are the ones who can protect women,” she pointed out. According to Cankar Soares, equality is a really important value, but it does not usually encompass all people. The slogan of the march puts the spotlight on children before birth and sends the message that they, too, are an equal part of society, but they are being denied that equality because they are being denied the right to life, reported the weekly newspaper Družina.
“Today’s rally is a rally of joy, because life is so big and so important. But we have come to a point where we need to do more to protect it. And when we come together like this, when we can really feel this pulse, this energy, this joy for life, we know: this is the future, this is true contentment. For me, life is sacred. I brought my whole family to today’s march; my wife and I have six children. Family comes first for us. Life is a gift: we cannot buy it, we cannot sell it. Life is a gift,” Marcel Kokelj, a participant of the March for Life and a father of six from Škofja Loka, told the Družina newspaper.
“We walk together, in support of all unborn children and their mothers and fathers in need. We work to equip people to courageously stand up for every human life – from conception to natural death. We want the message of the value of every human being to reach all Slovenians,” the website of the Catholic Church in Slovenia read on the occasion of the March for Life.
“And on the other side, we could see a few dozen violent protesters shouting slogans against life, motherhood and family,” tweeted Aleksander Rant, editor-in-chief of Nova24TV. The banners that the protesters were carrying read, among other things, “Clerical fascists, fuck off,” and they also mocked Catholic dogmas – even though they otherwise proclaim themselves to be the spokespeople for tolerance and equal rights for all.
In her speech, Urška Cankar Soares, the host of the March for Life, expressed her delight at the large number of people that attended the event. She stressed that the underlying message of the participants at Saturday’s event was that life is a basic human right. Every mother and father must feel in their hearts that a pregnant woman is carrying a human being, carrying a child that they want to protect, and they want society to help them do just that: “So that all children could be born, celebrate their first birthday, and live in this beautiful world of ours.” Cankar Soares also wanted to address the men at the March for Life; namely, at a nationwide meeting of husbands and fathers in Maribor, she realised that it really is the fathers who make a mark on the family and enable and help mothers ensure that every child can live. This is completely at odds with the message that modern society is sending us: that the decision about a child’s life is for the woman to make alone. This is a lie, Cankar Soares made clear, according to Družina, and she also encouraged men to stand up for the family and protect women and children.
Sara Kovač
