Pro-Life Activist Spotlight: Rachel Munro

Today we're featuring an interview with Rachel Munro (nee Kidd), a pro-life activist working to build a culture of life in Scotland as part of the SPUC Scotland team, our sister organisation north of the border. Last week Rachel, aged 28, and her husband Calum found out that their 20-wk old baby is a bouncing boy!

This is Rachel Munro’s interview about her part in building a culture of life in Scotland:

Q. Why are you currently in Scotland?

A. I was born and bred here! I’m from Dundee, but have been living and working in Glasgow for the past 3 and half years and am now married to a Glaswegian

Q. How did you find out about SPUC Scotland? Are you involved?

A. My parents met through SPUC. My dad Michael Kidd was the Development Officer in the 1980s and my mum Helen was a volunteer, while working as a nurse in Glasgow. I therefore grew up in an actively pro-life family and my pro-life convictions have always remained strong. I’ve been involved in pro-life work in different ways over the years, but for the past 3 and half have been working as the Development Officer at SPUC Scotland.

Q. When did you first become aware of being prolife?

A. I’d say I was aware of the issue even as a child, I remember there often being foetal models and pro-life literature in the house and realising at a young age that babies were under threat while in their mother’s womb. As a child it was easy to make the connection between seeing life and being pro-life, so by the time I got to the age that I started to hear arguments for abortion I already had a firm conviction that - if a new human life was present from the moment of conception, that life should always be protected.

Q. Have you been active in prolife, and in what capacity?

A. As a child I was involved in pro-life activities through and with my parents; things such as attending conferences, vigils, street collections and handing out the Pro-life Times at church. I went to my first SPUC youth conference at the age of 17 and since then have been involved in pro-life activities in different ways. I lived in London for a couple of years, working as a parish youth worker and during that time I was involved in the 40 Days for Life campaigns. I also organised a pro-life conference in the parish and brought a group of young people to the Scottish Youth Conference. After leaving this post in London I began my work at SPUC Scotland, which has been a fantastic experience and one which I’m very grateful for.

Q. What would you say to someone who wants to stand for prolife but is nervous?

A. I’d say that it can and most likely will be uncomfortable to be open about your pro-life beliefs at first, but we have to ask ourselves - how much does it matter?…and does my voice matter? For me the reasons to speak out far outweighed any reasons to remain silent. The issue was so important that I felt I couldn’t sit back and do nothing, all while knowing what is going on. It’s an issue of injustice (in so many ways) that I would say really burns in my soul and pulls me to action. I was probably fortunate to have gone through the initial ‘unveiling of my pro-life beliefs’ at a fairly young age, so I’ve already gone through the process of having uncomfortable chats with friends and being challenged by strangers in the streets or on social media. Once you break through those initial stages and deal with situations in which you are challenged, it becomes more straight forward because people know who you are and what you stand for. People may disagree and in fact you may even loose some friends, but hopefully most will respect your sincerity and even if they don’t, you won’t have to live with the heaviness of hiding what you believe.

"The ways in which you can stand for Life are many and varied, so find a way that you feel drawn to engage and use your own story, gifts and talents"

Q. What are your future plans?

A. I’m currently 5 months pregnant with my first child, so my future plans involve being a mum, raising a pro-life family and continuing to be involved in pro-life work in whatever way I can.

(This blogpost first appeared at SPUC Scotland and is republished here with their permission)