On April 28 LifeCanada will begin importing hundreds of messages on popular social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter with the hashtag #280today, along with an informational message explaining the campaign.
"The benefit of social media is ... you are not controlled, you are free to share the message and you don't have to rely on someone to publish it," said Anastasia Bowles, the campaign's director. "It is a fairly easy campaign to join, it is just a click of your mouse. So it is a way of reaching as many people as possible."
Joining the campaign requires one to visit LifeCanada's web site (lifecanada.org) to register. On April 28 at 2 p.m. a mass message will be sent on the supporters' newsfeeds accompanied with the hashtag.
Bowles estimates that for every one person who joins the campaign, another 100 will see the message, a number which will grow exponentially as people share the original messages. Within the first week of launching the sign up page on April 11 about 180 people had joined.
"LifeCanada's #280 social media campaign represents the new and innovative face of the right-to-life movement," wrote Natalie Sonnen, LifeCanada’s executive director, in a news release. "Our campaign uses technology and creativity to engage youth and to reach people in unprecedented numbers."
Along with the mass message component of the campaign, a YouTube video has been circulating on social media.
The campaign is part of a joint effort with the Diocese of Hamilton, which is once again sponsoring the Culture of Life Conference which is bringing almost 300 students together on April 21 for its annual pro-life information seminar. LifeCanada is one of the presenters.
"The focus of the conference is to educate young people regarding the sacredness of life," reads a statement from Fr. Murray Kroestch, chancellor and spokesperson for the Diocese of Hamilton.
Kroestch went on to say that the LifeCanada campaign "will help students to see the possibilities of using social media both to remind people that all human life is sacred and to realize the number of lives destroyed by abortion each day."
Getting to the youth of today is critical for the pro-life movement of tomorrow, said Bowles.
"They are the future of Canada, they need to be educated on the issues and they need to know what the facts are," she said. "Most Canadians aren't aware of all the facts about abortions in Canada."
She referenced an Angus Reid poll showing up to 80 per cent of Canadians are unaware that "abortions are fully legal right up until birth" because there currently are no laws regarding the procedure.
"I encourage people to join because for every person that joins we reach hundreds more," she said. "It is vital to raise awareness that 280 unborn babies are aborted every day in Canada."