Gallery: 'March For Life' held in Tallinn on Sunday
An anti-abortion demonstration march was held to express support for traditional family values in Tallinn's Old Town Sunday.
Participants in the demonstration congregated on Viru väravad, and marched to Vabaduse väljak, a traditional route for demonstrations of all hues and covering a distance of a little over half a kilometer.
Organizers of the event posted on social media that: "We are awaiting everyone who considers all life to be sacred - even unborn lives - and who care for Estonia's future, to participate."
The event, held by NGO Elu Marss, saw people walking towards Vabaduse väljak while chanting "Life is sacred" (Estonian: "Elu on püha").
Varro Vooglaid, operator of portal Objektiiv, was invited to speak at the event but notified his non-participation on social media, adding the marches' objective had not been clear enough to him.
He added the march should clearly state the demand that the Estonian state stop funding abortions via the health service.
Lydia Hõbesalu, head of NGO Elu Marss, said the goal had been to raise awareness that each child is valuable. "That a fetus inside their mother's womb is not just a collection of cells, but rather a person into whom life and their enitre fate has been encoded," she said.
Hõbesalu noted that the event has no affiliation with coalition party the Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE), itself broadly pro-life and which had publicly supported the march, with some of its leading members taking part. "Even the leader of our project is not a member of EKRE; they were just the only party to support us," Hõbesalu said.
EKRE leader and Minister of Finance Martin Helme took part in the march, along with interior minister and former leader Mart.
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Editor: Kristjan Kallaste, Andrew Whyte