Stephanie Gray

Stephanie Ann Gray

Stephanie Gray is a Canadian pro-life activist.[1] She spent 12 years as executive director and co-founder of the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform, and now writes and speaks on behalf of her ministry, Love Unleashes Life.[2]

Life and education

Gray grew up in Chilliwack, British Columbia, and graduated from St. Jean Brebeuf Regional Secondary School in Abbotsford in 1998.[3] After enrolling at the University of British Columbia (UBC), she joined the UBC Lifeline Club and was elected president in 1999.[1] Until she graduated from UBC with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science in 2002, Gray retained her position as president.[1] She also possesses a certificate in health care ethics from the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[1] She was raised Catholic.[4]

Gray, who initially attended UBC to study theatre with the intent to become an actress and part-time volunteer, ultimately decided to work full-time for the anti-abortion movement. She co-founded the Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform after she heard Scott Klusendorf at the National Campus Life Network Symposium in 1999 say that there were "more people willing to work full time to kill babies than to save them."[4][5]

Work

Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform

Gray spent 12 years as executive director and co-founder of the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform.[2] She founded the organization in 2001, with Jojo Ruba, with the mission "to make abortion unthinkable via graphically disturbing images".[1] Stephanie Gray is most known for organizing and directing the Genocide Awareness Project at college campuses throughout the United States and Canada.[4][6][7] Describing the campaign in 2013, Gray said "We have put together an 18-year plan called 'End the Killing,' and we aim to saturate the Canadian culture with the facts about who the baby is, and what abortion does to the baby...so that we can eradicate abortion from our culture."[8] The display contains graphic images of abortion, mass graves, and public lynchings while comparing abortion to the Holocaust and other forms of genocide.[4][9][10]

Stephanie Gray believes that graphic images are essential to the anti-abortion movement to expose the true horror of abortion and defend the humanity of the unborn.[4] She has compared her work to that of Martin Luther King Jr.,[4] arguing that his critics also accused his activism of being "unwise and untimely" and "extreme".[11]

In 2013, Gray and her team targeted opponents of Motion 312 in the Parliament of Canada; specifically the Calgary ridings of MP Michelle Rempel and Prime Minister Stephen Harper, by distributing tens of thousands of pamphlets containing graphic images of abortion.[4] The 2012 motion, which would have created a committee to review the legality of abortion in Canada, failed 203-91.

Gray has debated with pro-choice advocates including Eike-Henner Kluge,[12] and Elizabeth Cavendish, then director of NARAL Pro-Choice America.[13]

Stephanie Gray is a faculty member at Blackstone Legal Fellowship[14] and has debated at the University of Sussex.[15] She spoke at the First Baptist Church in Glenarden, Maryland, at the Students for Life Conference in America in 2014.[16][17][18]

Stephanie Gray has been a guest on CTV News, CBC News, Global News, Sun News, Catholic Answers Radio, 100 Huntley Street's ListenUp, and the Miracle Channel's Insight. She has been interviewed by ABC, NBC, FOX, and CBS.[19]

According to an article in the Vancouver Sun on April 28, 2015, Cam Côté, the director for the Canadian Centre said that Gray was no longer with the group.[20]

Love Unleashes Life

In 2014, Stephanie Gray left the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform and began a ministry, Love Unleashes Life.[2] She authored a book by the same title, published in 2016, which is a practical guide to using questions and stories to make an intellectual case for the anti-abortion message as well as reach people's hearts.[21]

Reception

In 2009, American bioethicist Jacob M. Appel criticized Gray for what he described as "inflammatory hyperbole, rather than sincere engagement" and comparisons between abortion clinics and Nazi concentration camps which he said "diminishes the memory of those who perished in the gas chambers, using their suffering for an unrelated political purpose, while simultaneously generating a rationale for the murder of abortion providers".[22] In 2013, the National Post reported that Gray acknowledged that her position may be labeled as "extreme" from a mainstream perspective, and had responded that "If rejecting a culture of killing children is extreme, I'm OK with that". She compares her view to that of Martin Luther King Jr. in his Letter from Birmingham Jail where he responded to criticisms of his tactics as "extreme".[4]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "The B.C. Catholic Paper — Gray colours pro-life with science". Bccatholic.ca. 2011-08-26. Retrieved 2014-03-15.
  2. 1 2 3 Stephanie Gray. "About - Stephanie Gray". Retrieved 2016-07-23.
  3. ↑ Graphically Speaking. "Alumni Biography: Stephanie Gray". Stjohnbrebeuf.ca. Retrieved 2014-03-15.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Anti-abortion group uses gruesome images to target ridings of MPs who voted against pro-life motion | National Post". News.nationalpost.com. Retrieved 2014-03-15.
  5. ↑ "NCLN Symposium Story: Stephanie Gray". National Campus Life Network.
  6. ↑ Weatherbe, Steve. "How Not to Silence Pro-Lifers | Daily News". NCRegister.com. Retrieved 2014-03-15.
  7. ↑ "VIDEO: Display comparing abortion to genocide flares emotions at FGCU : Naples Daily News". Naplesnews.com. 2010-02-24. Retrieved 2014-03-15.
  8. ↑ Jonathan Goldsbie (12 April 2013). "Where the sidewalk ends...". NOW.
  9. ↑ "Arrest of Carleton students over anti-abortion posters framed as free speech issue | National Post". Life.nationalpost.com. 2010-10-04. Retrieved 2014-03-15.
  10. ↑ "Western Standard — Informing Choice". Westernstandard.ca. 2007-07-30. Retrieved 2014-03-15.
  11. ↑ "GAP Leader Responds to Post's Barbara Kay's Condemnation of Abortion Photos Strategy". LifeSiteNews.
  12. ↑ "Closed for debate". Macleans.ca. Retrieved 2014-03-15.
  13. ↑ "Students For Life at the University of Maryland". Studentorg.umd.edu. 2006-10-05. Retrieved 2014-03-15.
  14. ↑ "Blackstone — Legal Fellowship — A Ministry of Alliance Defending Freedom". Blackstonelegalfellowship.org. Retrieved 2014-03-15.
  15. ↑ http://www.sussexstudent.com/debating/news/index.php?page=article&news_id=202183
  16. ↑ http://college.studentsforlife.org/files/2012/09/2014-Draft-Schedule1.pdf
  17. ↑ Stephanie Gray at the Students for Life of America Conference, January 2014. 6 February 2014 – via YouTube.
  18. ↑ "Students for Life of America National Conference 2014 - Cvent".
  19. ↑ "Stephanie Gray | Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform". Unmaskingchoice.ca. Archived from the original on 2014-03-19. Retrieved 2014-03-15.
  20. ↑ The Vancouver Sun Anti-abortion activists attack Trudeau in leaflet campaign By Matthew Robinson, Vancouver Sun April 28, 2015
  21. ↑ Stephanie Gray. "Love Unleashes Life". Retrieved 2016-07-23.
  22. ↑ "Auschwitz Revisited: The Holocaust and the Abortion Debate". The Huffington Post. 5 December 2009.

External links

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