Evangelicals call abortion activists to exercise “tolerance and respect”

Swiss pro-lifers hold their annual March For Life on 17 September, and the pressure by pro-abortion activists and politicians has increased over the summer.  

In the last years, groups expressing their support for the peaceful march celebrated in capital city Bern and Zurich suffered paint attacks against their offices, violent counter-demonstrations and graffiti targeting homes of individual Christian leaders.

In the run-up to this year’s March for Life, the Swiss Evangelical Alliance is calling abortion activists for “more tolerance and the protection of freedom of expression”.

“Democratic Switzerland guarantees the freedom to express different ways of thinking to convince with arguments and to influence political events”, the SEA says. And “this should apply to everyone. Totalitarian states massively restrict this freedom of expression”.

The march by Swiss citizens who “value the family and stand up for the right of the child to be allowed to live” should not be facing year after year “activists for a right to abortion who smash windows, throw paint bags into offices, smear buildings with obscene slogans and demanding that business relations with dissidents be stopped”.

This year, even an organisation that is not supporting the march was hit with a boycott. Helsana, a well-known insurance company, was criticised by left-wing politicians for providing services to the family association “Pro Life”, which has 70,000 members in Switzerland. Graffiti on Helsana’s buildings and political pressure forced Helsana to explain it does not have a stance on abortion, calling for the fundamental right of freedom of expression and the equal treatment of business partners regardless of their political stance.

After years of efforts to mute the voice of pro-life groups, the Swiss Evangelical Alliance challenges “abortion advocates to stand up for the right to freedom of expression in their environment and to treat those who think in other ways with tolerance and respect. This is one of the foundations of our democratic coexistence in Switzerland”.

In 2021, 1,200 people joined the Swiss March For Life in Zurich.