Day 4: Pro-abortion MPs want pro-lifers sent to prison
Dear Friend and Supporter,
Earlier this week I told you how the abortion lobby is pushing the UK Government to place DIY abortions on a permanent footing.
I explained how SPUC is working very hard right now to ensure that a voice for babies and women in the public consultation process isn’t drowned out by the abortion lobby.
I warned too how women are being systematically “deceived” into thinking that DIY abortions are simple, safe and legal when often they are anything but.
An unborn baby by any other name is still an unborn baby
Indeed, deception goes to the very heart of what the abortion industry is all about.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “deception” as: “the act of causing someone to accept as true or valid what is false or invalid.”
One of the greatest deceptions promulgated by the abortion side is the utterly false notion that an unborn child is not a human person at all, but rather a clump of cells with no value.
If they truly believed that, then it begs an important question:
Why object so strongly to pro-lifers peacefully and silently praying outside abortion facilities?
What biologists have discovered proves beyond any doubt that abortion is the deliberate killing of a new developing human being in utero.
When it comes to “selling” abortion to women this presents a huge problem for the abortion lobby.
They know the ugly truth is that each abortion ends the life of an innocent child and that society - for the most part - finds child-killing repugnant.
They know that if the truth seeps out far enough, they will be shut down.
That is why they are hell-bent on closing down free and open discussion about abortion.
And it’s why they are resorting to the most draconian measures imaginable against those who are daring to speak out against it.
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False allegations
In October, Manchester City Council became the third English council to impose a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) around an abortion clinic.
The Manchester PSPO makes it illegal to:
- Pray
- Hand out pro-life literature
- Speak to anyone about abortion in the vicinity of the clinic
The council claim that staff and clients of the Marie Stopes clinic endured “intimidation and harassment” from pro-life protesters.
Yet 40 Days for Life, a pro-life group which has been staging vigils at the Manchester Fallowfield clinic for 10 years, firmly rejects all allegations of wrong-doing.
Director Robert Colquhoun told the Manchester Evening News: “We haven’t had a single substantiated case of harassment anywhere in the UK."
On the one hand we have a profit-making business with skin in the game flatly denying the humanity of the unborn child and its right to life.
On the other, we have a voluntary organisation defending and upholding the right to life whose volunteers selflessly and generously risk their liberty each time they venture out.
I know which one I believe.
And if there had really been wrong-doing on the pro-life side, I am certain that criminal charges and prosecutions would have quickly followed.
Not a single criminal case has been brought against 40 Days for Life – or any other pro-life group involved with the vigils.
For its part, SPUC has staged thousands of public demonstrations around the country since it was established in 1967 to fight the Abortion Act.
These include the Society’s annual pro-life chains which commemorate the lives (and deaths) of the 9 million plus innocent victims whose lives were cut short by a legal abortion.
In 53 years, not a single SPUC supporter has been arrested at a SPUC organised event.
Not one.
On the contrary, harassment, threatening behaviour and even physical attacks are sadly what we’ve come to expect from "pro-choice" counter-demonstrators at our events.
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Our opponents WON’T stop at three censorship zones
They are seeking an ALL-OUT BAN on pro-life vigils throughout the entire country.
In 2018, Ealing council in London became the first local authority to introduce a PSPO around an abortion clinic.
The same year, the abortion lobby succeeded in pressuring the Government into reviewing the legality of pro-life vigils.
SPUC received requests for over 80,000 special campaign postcards addressed to the Home Secretary from people who supported pro-life vigils.
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Censorship
Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information, on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient."
Censorship can be conducted by governments, private institutions, and other controlling bodies.
Wikipedia
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Thankfully, the then Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, concluded that a proposed ban on so-called abortion clinic “buffer zones” would be the wrong response.
Despite the best efforts of the pro-abortion lobby to characterise peaceful pro-life witnesses as unruly and uncaring intimidators of women, Mr Javid accepted the truth when he said:
"…the main activities reported to us that take place during protests include praying, displaying banners and handing out leaflets."
In saying this, the Home Secretary was essentially dismissing claims that pro-lifers harass women entering clinics as no more than abortion lobby propaganda and lies.
Harassment or helping?
No doubt in arriving at his decision, Mr Javid was fully aware of the wider implications banning peaceful demonstrations would have for UK citizen’s human and civil rights.
The right to freedom of speech and assembly are foundational principles in liberal democracies like Britain and as such they must be jealously guarded.
Not only that, but pro-life vigils offer pregnant women a “real” option. An option that will be denied them if pro-life vigils are banned.
Though SPUC is not involved in organising pro-life prayer vigils, we do nevertheless recognise what is at stake if peaceful acts of witness like these are outlawed.
FIRST: Countless women will be denied the practical and emotional support currently available through pro-life vigils to keep their babies—support that the abortion clinics will never give them.
One woman told SPUC that she felt so strongly about the way she was treated by her abortion providers, that she wants to come out publicly in support of pro-life vigils.
Amy was rushed through the abortion process when she was only 18. She told us:
"The moments before my abortion took place, I was looking around the hospital, wondering if there was an alternative. I found nothing on that day, and unfortunately, I went back and I went through with the abortion.
"And since that time, I’ve realised that what I was looking for was somebody, anybody, with an alternative…I was looking for anyone with a ray of hope.
"Sometimes you do just need somebody to say ‘there is an alternative’ and here’s a number, here’s my number.”
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Amy: "If someone had been there for me, my story would have ended differently"
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SECOND: Simply offering a woman help could result in a prison term for pro-lifers.
In September, Labour MP Rupa Huq, sought to intensify the censorship on pro-life truth by introducing a bill which aimed to impose a six-month jail sentence on pro-lifers expressing any opinion on abortion within 150 metres of an abortion clinic.
Fortunately, the Huq Bill ran out of time at its second reading.
At its first reading, however, the bill passed by 213 votes to 47, demonstrating the high level of support which exists in Parliament right now for denying pregnant women a true option.
Then, in October, Sarah Olney, MP for Richmond Park, introduced a similar bill which is posing a real and present danger.
“Censorship Zones” are the thin end of a very dangerous wedge. The consequences of banning silent vigils go far beyond the infringement of our political rights.
With the attacks on pro-life speech and assembly intensifying, one day soon pro-life groups could very well find themselves starved of the oxygen which public outreach projects afford them, permanently suffocating and suppressing the awful truth about abortion in our country.
For SPUC this could mean a complete ban on its:
- School talks - depriving around 15,000 students we reach each year of the truth
- Campaign leaflets going through doors to help pro-life candidates get elected
- Appearances on TV and on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter
And that could well spell the end of SPUC and its defence of unborn children, altogether.
Will you get personally involved and donate a small amount today?
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I don’t recall a time in my 46 years at SPUC when the stakes have been higher.
That’s why I am seeking your help today.
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The funds which SPUC has at its disposal to fight against pro-life censorship are meagre in comparison with our wealthy and powerful opponents.
Every pound we raise goes towards the defence of unborn children. Every pound we raise counts.
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If everyone reading this email who has so far been unable to respond to SPUC’s Advent Appeal managed to donate just £10 today, we will not only be stronger and more effective, but more innocent lives can be saved.
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Thank you for your kind and loyal support.
Yours in defence of life
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John Smeaton
Chief Executive
PS: Christmas is my favourite time of year. My wife Josephine and I are looking forward to spending it at home - albeit communicating as best we can with our far-flung children, grandchildren, and great-grandchild.
But not everyone will be so fortunate. If you, or someone you know, are isolated and facing the prospect of a Christmas alone, please reply to this email. We will do our very best to step in and help, even if that just means a quick call to say hello and to ask “how are you?”
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