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Last Thursday, over 10,000 anti-abortion protestors marched from Parliament Hill through the streets of Ottawa in the annual march against legalized abortion. Those who participated include various protestant and catholic organizations, religious leaders and families with little children, who called on the government to legislate protection for all human beings from the time of conception to the moment of natural death.

In 1969, the Parliament for the first time passed the bill legalizing abortion. According to the current criminal code, a fetus can only be defined as “human” after birth. As a result, abortion can take place during any stage of pregnancy without providing any reasons.

In late April, Conservative MP Stephen Woodworth proposed a private member’s motion, which was debated for an hour in the parliament, called for a special committee to study a criminal code provision that could redefine when human life begins.

During the protest, Bruce Clemenger, president of Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, said that regardless of Stephen Harper’s insistence that his government won’t reopen the abortion debate, it’s already on.

“We cannot afford not to have the conversation,” he told the crowd. “I say Parliament needs to catch up with what Canadians believe.”

The motion is expected to return to the House of Commons either next month or in September for another hour of debate and a vote.