Press release from Abortion Rights (I’ll be at this protest. No question there):
Pro-choice supporters will gather in Bloomsbury, central London (Bedford Square, London, WC1B) on Friday 30 March at 7pm, to voice their opposition to the ’40 Days for Life’ protest which has been taking place outside the Bpas abortion clinic in Bedford Square since 22 February.
40 Days for Life is a US-based Christian organisation which has been operating in the UK for several years. The group, which is opposed to abortion in all circumstances, is staging a 40 day picket outside abortion clinics in London, Brighton, Birmingham and Manchester.
On Friday 30 March, Bishop Alan Hopes, a Catholic Bishop in the Westminster diocese, will join 40 Days for Life protesters for an evening ‘prayer vigil’ in Bedford Square at 7.00pm.
Prochoice groups are planning a peaceful counter-protest during the Bishop’s visit, to express their outrage at the tactics of anti-choice activists, which cause distress and alarm to women trying to access a legal medical service, and to demonstrate the strength of support for safe, legal abortion that exists in the UK.
In recent days, concerns have been raised about the intimidation of women trying to enter abortion clinics, amid reports of protesters filming patients and staff, handing out leaflets containing highly misleading information about abortion and directing women to services known to provide grossly inaccurate and judgemental advice.
Commenting on the planned counter-protest, Kerry Johnson of Bloomsbury Pro-Choice Alliance, which was set up to oppose the Bedford Square picket, said:
“The vigil by 40 Days for Life is part of the increasing attack on our reproductive rights in this country. Our peaceful protest in response to the presence of Bishop Hopes is a great way for people to show their support for the vast majority in this country who are pro-choice.”
British Humanist Association Head of Public Affairs, Pavan Dhaliwal commented:
“Any group that seeks to restrict and remove a woman’s choice is one whose outlook is not shared by the BHA or, indeed, the majority of the population of the country. This is especially true for an organisation whose motives are entirely religious, and not at all based on evidence.”
Darinka Aleksic, campaign co-ordinator at Abortion Rights, said:
“It is vital that women are able to access abortion clinics without fear of being approached or intimidated by those who disagree with their choice. We have to send a clear message to anti-abortion groups that these tactics will not be tolerated in this country.
“At the moment, we are seeing an unholy alliance of anti-choice activists and government ministers, who are united in their desire to see abortion rights restricted. Andrew Lansley said last week that he is shocked and appalled by allegations of wrongdoing by abortion providers, yet he has been silent on these anti-choice protests taking place less than a mile from his office.”
Read about anti-abortion protesters filming women in Bedford Square: http://bit.ly/zplVtv
40 Days for Life advertise vigil with Bishop Alan Hopes: http://bit.ly/GTKbo1
Notes to Editors:
Event details: Friday 30.03.12, 7.00pm, Bedford Square, London, WC1B
Facebook event page: http://on.fb.me/GD8x1c
For further comment or information, please contact:
Kerry Johnson, Bloomsbury Pro-Choice Alliance: 07591 542 027
Email bloomsburypca@gmail.com
Pavan Dhaliwal, British Humanist Association: 020 7462 4993
Email press@humanism.org.uk
Darinka Aleksic, Abortion Rights: 07842 270139
Email choice@abortionrights.org.uk
Bloomsbury Pro-Choice Alliance has been set up to raise awareness of the attempts by 40 Days for Life and other groups (SPUC, Abort67) to restrict a woman’s right to choose. www.bloomsburypca.wordpress.com
The British Humanist Association is the national charity working on behalf of non-religious people who seek to live ethical and fulfilling lives on the basis of reason and humanity. It promotes a secular state and equal treatment in law and policy of everyone, regardless of religion or belief. www.humanism.org.uk
Abortion Rights is the national pro-choice campaign for the UK, working to defend and extend women’s right to safe, legal abortion. www.abortionrights.org.uk.
Why dont you like the words Pro Life,(Because it is?)
Abortionists seem to relish the thought of taking babies lives.If not why are they so concerned that a woman should hear both sides?
A baby,if disabled can be aborted up until the time of birth(?)Will it soon be after,then into childhood?
Why don’t I like the words pro-life? – Because these people aren’t pro-lifers. They’re not pro-women’s lives. They’re pro-pressuring women who have heard both sides of an abortion argument long before arriving at a clinic and who have already made decisions for themselves. They also look to force an agenda on behalf of a deity who – well, is thoroughly make-believe and thus has no business trying to participate in political debate. Etc.
Pro-abortioners are 21st century Nazi’s – the abortion of these innocent children is a holocaust.
Spoken like a man and one with a sense of proportion. Brilliant.
In my opinion true pro-lifers are not anti-women. They are pro-life, pro-care and pro-support for women. This is certainly true of all the pro-lifers I have come across. Those standing outside clinics are not trying to intimidate or to harass women. They are trying to peacefully stand witness to the fact that life is being taken within the walls of the clinic. While a woman may have made her choice before coming to the clinic this is often not an informed choice. Many women are not aware that human life begins at conception, that once a sperm and an egg meet that an entirely unique individual with their own DNA has come into existence. This is not religion. This is scientific fact. Women often do not have a true choice as they are pressured into abortion by their parents, boyfriend or partner or perhaps financial difficulties. I am all in favour of women’s reproductive rights. Yet I am not in favour of those which take the life of another innocent human being. We should be working to help women who are in a state of crisis pregnancy and offer them material support. Abortion does not usually solve their problems in the lobg term. Often, it is simply a quick fix. The woman simply returns to the same situation – lace of money, difficult partner etc. Those standing outside clinics are there to peacefully remind those women that they have more than one choice. That abortion is not the only option. We have free speech and religious freedom in this country to so what they are doing is perfectly acceptable and appropriate to their religious and ethical standpoint.
Pity that so many pro abortionists don’t realize where the idea of abortion first emerged. Margaret Sanger promoted her abortion agenda, claiming that it was better for society as a whole to reduce the number of “Slavs, Hebrews, Italians” and other dysgenic peoples being born in the US. She promoted birth control as a means of reducing the reproduction of these and other undesirables, including the “colored” people. She hosted well know racists and even Hitler’s eugenic mastermind in her magazine, and they contributed to her cause… mostly with the goal of preserving the influence and ascendancy of the Anglo-Saxon in the country.