Howling mob attacks pro-life university group

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Spring Appeal - Day 1

Dear
SPUC supporter,
UK pro-lifers are experiencing unprecedented levels of censorship AND physical danger.

Last month, a group of young students from the Manchester Pro-Life Society—which is affiliated with the University of Manchester Students’ Union—decided to meet.
Little did they know what lay in store for them.

What can only be described as a howling 300-strong mob of pro-abortion activists were waiting outside the Oxford Road campus in Chorlton-on-Medlock.

Had it not been for the heavy police presence, the intimidation and abuse could have easily escalated into serious physical injury or worse.
* Eggs were thrown at the windows of the building hosting the event
* Some of those involved in the protest appeared to be 'drunk'

Members of the Pro Life Society had to endure being:
* Spat at
* Threatened with physical violence
* Told to “get raped”.

Some of the mob then pursued the students while shouting and swearing at them.

One pro-lifer who was present told the Catholic Herald;

“If it wasn’t for the police and security, people would have definitely been physically hurt. It made me feel intimidated and threatened. I was genuinely afraid that we would get hurt physically.”

Police were so concerned for the safety of a heavily pregnant 22-year-old woman that she had to be escorted home in a police van.

“I really thought our lives were in danger,” she told the Catholic newspaper.

“Leaving the building was the most terrifying part, we were surrounded and people were screaming in our faces.

I knew that it would only take one person to push into me for me to fall and be crushed. It was traumatic, I was shaking the whole time and I’m still really shaken up.

The crowd was extremely violent – spitting, throwing eggs, screaming and swearing. There were around 30 of us, and 300 of them. Most of them had their faces covered.”

Another pro-life female student describes how the police were concerned how serious the situation had become:

“When we were leaving, the police told everyone we had to do this very quickly, [with a] very swift exit from the building.”

”The police were using force to stop these people because they were being very violent. They were being very threatening, both physically and verbally.”
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This is about shutting down Free speech

A petition to dissolve the Pro Life Society and calling the group 'outrageous' and 'harmful' has reached more than 18,000 signatures.

One pro-abortion student said:

“Don’t get me wrong, I am all for having different political views, but I think women’s bodily autonomy is not up for debate."

This tells you all you need to know about our opponents’ ‘thinking’.

Speaking up for vulnerable human beings from brutal killing is totally OFF their agenda.

How tragic and disturbing

Neither do they respect the law.

A Students' Union spokesperson told ITV News:

"The new freedom of speech legislation was passed in 2023 and will be fully implemented by September of this year.

"From a legal standpoint, it’s not possible to stop a society from affiliating for their legal views that are contrary to the views of other students.

"That means, despite concerns over student safety, the students’ union can’t block a [university] society from forming because of their beliefs.

"The existence of a group on campus that makes you feel concerned about the culture on campus, what the environment could become, is not enough of a legal basis for the SU to ask the society to disband.

But it’s clear that the ‘backing’ the Manchester Pro Life Society has received from the Students’ Union is begrudging at best and their tone seems to invite the expectation that pro-lifers are unacceptable:

"However, if the actions of any society amounted to hate speech, unwanted attention, harassment and caused harm as a result, we would challenge that in line with the process and procedures we have." The spokesperson added. How ironic that the hate of the baying pro-abortion mob, screaming threats, is overlooked by the Student Union spokesperson.

UK pro-life movement identified as potential terrorist threat

In another worrying development, The Guardian has revealed that groups holding to so-called single-
issue political goals are to go on a terrorist watch list.

Unbelievably that includes groups who peacefully campaign for anti-abortion goals, like SPUC.

Last month, the government quietly updated its Prevent awareness training to include socialism, communism, anti-fascism AND anti-abortion ideologies.

The aim of Prevent is to stop people from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism.

The UK government website states that the objectives of Prevent are to:
* Tackle the ideological causes of terrorism
* Intervene early to support people susceptible to radicalisation
* Enable people who have already engaged in terrorism to disengage and rehabilitate

The Prevent document’s section on single-issue ideologies reads:

“Narratives are likely to come from those who seek to change a specific policy or practice, as opposed to replacing the whole economic, political or social system.

Examples include animal rights, anti-abortion or anti-fascism.

Single-issue narratives can be politically agnostic, meaning they may be neither right nor left aligned."
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The threat to pro-life groups is escalating:

FIRST: In contravention of the democratic right to free assembly, we saw so-called ‘Buffer Zone’ legislation passed in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

This has made it a criminal offence to offer life-saving support to vulnerable women in the vicinity of an abortion facility.

A bill currently before Holyrood aims to make this practice illegal in Scotland too.

SECOND: Buffer Zones could be far more accurately described as “censorship zones”.

Following their introduction, a de facto ban has been placed on the political right to free speech to the point that pro-lifers who silently pray alone near an abortion facility are repeatedly arrested.

THIRD: Big Tech companies like Google and Facebook infamously took steps to ensure the victory of the abortion lobby at the 2018 Irish abortion referendum.

Meanwhile, more and more pro-life groups and commentators are finding themselves the victims of online censorship.

There is strong evidence to show that pro-life views are being deliberately marginalised on popular social media platforms like Facebook.

“Shadow banning” and “throttling”—techniques used to limit the number of people viewing posts online—are commonplace today.

And NOW, the UK pro-life movement is sitting on a government terror list.

Beating the Censors

Holding more face-to-face conversations with members of the public is one way in which SPUC is ensuring that the horrific reality of abortion is not forgotten.

Earlier this year, SPUC launched the Heart-to-Heart street campaign.

The campaign is based on Britain’s largest pro-life youth street campaign, Project Truth

Every summer Project Truth engages with around 2,000 members of the public across UK towns and cities.

Estimated cost: £9,000

The Heart-to-Heart campaign provides important opportunities to raise awareness among ordinary people and save lives by:
* Opening discussions about the humanity of the unborn child and abortion with passers-by
* Gathering insights about how people feel about abortion so that we can develop strong “messaging” which resonates powerfully with the general public
* Collecting signatures for petitions which build pressure on Parliament to protect the unborn
* Issuing crisis pregnancy helpline numbers
* Providing FACTS about how abortion harms women

Project Truth is seasonal and is manned by students and other young people, so its reach is somewhat limited.
But by deploying SPUC’s 50-strong UK branch network, the Heart-to-Heart project can engage many MORE people at MULTIPLE locations simultaneously.

During April and May, the first of seven regional branch training events will be taking place enabling every SPUC branch to host a Heart-to-Heart street day in their area.

Estimated cost: £14,000
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The pro-abortion lobby wants to silence us.

It doesn’t care about human rights.

That’s’ why they refuse to recognise the right to life, free speech, and demonstrating peacefully on behalf of the UK’s most vulnerable and victimised group and want them all removed.

Will you give £10 or £15 or £25 or £50 or £100 or £500 or £1,000 or £5,000 or more to fight back against censorship and spread the pro-life message?
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Thank you for your vital support.

You are a true champion of the pro-life movement, unborn babies, their mothers— and protector of our most fundamental human rights.

Yours in Defence of Life
John Deighan
Chief Executive

PS - Sadly, intimidation designed to shut down pro-life speech is widespread on UK campuses.

A 2021 survey revealed that 1-in-4 pro-life students are “threatened, abused, alarmed or distressed” for being pro-life at university.

The survey conducted by the Alliance of Pro-life Students (APS) found that:
* Over 70% of students faced situations in lectures or seminars where they felt “unable to speak” about their views
* Nearly a quarter have been “threatened, abused, alarmed or distressed – by actions or words – by another student or academic” because of their membership in a pro-life society
* One in three have seen events cancelled due to the “de-platforming” of pro-life speakers
* 65% of students witnessed another student being discriminated against or harassed for holding pro-life views.

SPUC’s Alma Mater Fund supports university and college students experiencing a crisis pregnancy, enabling them to keep their babies and complete their studies.
We plan to expand the project by having a prominent Alma Mater presence on university campuses to counteract the mob mentality we often see exhibited there against pro-lifers and their message of love and life.

That is another reason I urge you to consider donating to support SPUC’s work today.
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