We of Viswakamal had to brave some rain on the way to the event today, but not the bitter cold that our comrades-in-arms may face in Washington, DC two days from now. (See previous post about the March for Life and about our event.)

At least thirty Viswakamal members and supporters turned out; and many passers-by, as well, paused long enough to get the message or pick up a leaflet. The talks could be heard through the loudspeakers within a block’s radius of the busy intersection. Seven Viswakamal members spoke, all in Bengali. The event ran for three hours. It was our first outdoor event.

Tapas Kumbhakar speaks for those who cannot speak for themselves.

Group photo after the event. Front, second from right, is emcee Swagata Banerjee.

Through social media, we can greatly extend the reach of today’s message — the message that Kolkatans stand for life. Please share!

The Viswakamal Welfare Society believes in “speaking out for the born and unborn children of India, and assisting their parents.”

We believe that society must be fully active in preventing unwanted pregnancies, through contraception and education. Society must be fully active in caring for any children whom the parents cannot care for. In these ways we will be able to avoid a large population of uncared-for children.

But once a child has been conceived, it is a member of our human family. Just as we do not kill poor children on the street, abortion as a way of dealing with poverty is never a just solution.

Yet in West Bengal alone, every day, about 1500 unborn children are aborted.

On Wednesday, January 20, the Viswakamal Welfare Society will hold a street-corner event at Bagbazar, Kolkata (near the Bata showroom) from 2:30 to 5:30 pm. A number of notable persons will address the gathering. The purpose of the event is to raise public awareness about the humanity of unborn children. They are our little sisters and brothers who cannot speak for themselves, so we must speak for them.

The Viswakamal Welfare Society wishes to express solidarity with similar pro-life movements around the world. The January 20 date has been selected to express support for the March for Life held on January 22 in the US. On that date every year in Washington DC, almost half a million people face the bitter cold in order to protest the practice of aborting defenceless unborn children. It is the biggest annual pro-life event in the world.

Viswakamal supporters preparing for January 20 street-corner event

Jan 22, 1973, was the date of a court ruling in the US declaring that the various state governments had no power to protect unborn children from abortion in any meaningful way. Every year the March in Washington, DC seeks the overturn of that decision. But the more fundamental purpose of the March is to raise consciousness about the humanity of the unborn.

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