Local Pro-Life Advocates Band Together at Connecticut Login for Life

By Shelley Wolf

Now is not the time to give up on life. Despite the current coronavirus pandemic, advocates should not abandon the pro-life cause, said Tom McClusky, vice-president of governmental affairs from the national office of March for Life in Washington, D.C.

“When it comes to the issue of life, we can’t put that on pause,” he told a Connecticut audience. “Life from the very beginning deserves the dignity that God gave it.”

With that McClusky lead the charge on April 15 during the first-ever “Connecticut Login for Life,” a webinar in which three impassioned panelists addressed critical pro-life issues. The hour-long webinar replaced the first-ever Connecticut March for Life, which was originally planned as a rally for April 15 at the State Capitol in Hartford.

Instead, pro-life advocates from across the archdiocese were united in a noon-time webinar through use of their computers and Zoom video conferencing technology. They heard McClusky as moderator introduce a panel of state-level presenters, who discussed various pro-life issues in Connecticut, ranging from abortion to assisted suicide. The webinar participants were also able to pose questions through a Q&A feature, and to see and hear the presenters’ live responses.

The webinar event was sponsored by the Connecticut Catholic Public Affairs Conference, the Family Institute of Connecticut and the March for Life Education and Defense Fund.

One of the panelists, Christina Bennett, communication director, of the Family Institute of Connecticut, offered attendees perspective as well as reasons for hope.

“We’re facing a crisis in Connecticut,” she said. “We’re one of the least pro-life states in the country. Despite that, the pro-life cause in Connecticut is growing.”

Bennett pointed to pregnancy centers as a bright spot. “Even in the midst of a global pandemic, they are still meeting the needs of women,” she said, helping young mothers face the current shortage of diapers and formula.

She urged all participants to pray. “If you’re a person of faith, please pray,” Bennett said. “Prayer moves mountains.” She asked everyone to pray for the Connecticut Pregnancy Care Coalition, the Family Institute of Connecticut and for all affected government officials.

She also urged everyone to find their legislator on the Connecticut General Assembly website at cga.ct.gov and to sign up for eblasts from the Family Institute of Connecticut at ctfamily.org.

“Whatever your story, you have a place in the pro-life movement,” she said. “We need a moral outcry in Connecticut. We need to let them know we mean business.”

Abortions of babies in the first trimester are not acceptable, she said. “It’s a cruel act of violence against an innocent human being who needs to be protected.”

 Cathy Ludlum, a disability advocate opposed to physician-assisted suicide, is staunchly against assisted suicide. Unable to attend the conference in person, she provided a video presentation. As a person with a disability herself, she noted that the disability arguments “do the best job” of dissuading legislators from passing physician-assisted suicide bills.

“Those of us with disabilities already have a difficult time getting healthcare,” she noted. Requests for care are often “met with reluctance,” she said. “It’s not compassionate to cause people to lose hope and end our lives.”

She acknowledged the expense of caring for some people with disabilities can be high but said viewing medical care only through the eyes of budgets is a mistake. “It’s a dangerous mix,” she said. “Death is cheaper than life but that doesn’t mean that should be our goal.”

Instead, she said, the government and medical community should focus on “alleviating emotional pain, isolation and despair.” She also cautioned against allowing assisted suicide even for the terminally ill. “Inevitably it will expand to people with Parkinson’s disease and dementia,” she said.

Lisa Maloney, president of the Connecticut Pregnancy Care Coalition and director of Carenet Pregnancy Resource Center in New London, addressed proposed legislation aiming to limit the advertising for pregnancy centers. She said a NARAL report attacked the centers with a list of untruths about their advertising and operating procedures.

“All the bills that have been proposed have been based on these reports – not on actual complaints,” she said.

Maloney urged those attending the webinar to contact their legislators. “We’ve asked people to reach out to legislators and encourage them to come for a tour and talk to us because legislators are basing their decisions on these lies.”

Despite the attacks, the pregnancy centers are all standing firm together, she said. “We attribute a lot of our success to God,” Maloney added. “We’re all holding each other accountable. It’s the unity we’re putting forth. God is directing us and we’re standing on the side of truth.”

To test how comfortable participants are lobbying for the pro-life cause, the sponsors of the webinar event conducted a live online poll. The results, which were quickly tallied and displayed for all to see, showed that 83 percent of participants have a pregnancy center near them, while 17 percent do not. Also, 56 percent of those in attendance have already contacted their legislator about life issues, while 44 percent have not.