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Original poster

Harassment of women using the Marie Stopes abortion clinic in Mattock Lane, Ealing, London, W5

59 replies

betty62 · 12/07/2017 17:14

Hi, some of you might have seen the article in the Ealing Times about the anti-abortionists who hold a daily vigil outside of the clinic on Mattock Lane, and anyone who walks down there will have noticed them: they are the people with the laminated pictures of embryos, the condemnatory signs, inaccurate leaflets and pink and blue rosaries that they offer to the women going into the clinic. There is a counter-group to the anti-abortionists who want the council to take action to stop the vigil on the grounds that the participants are causing harassment, alarm and distress to the women using the clinic and they have launched an e-petition with Ealing Council asking them to take action to remove them. The petition is not about the rights and wrongs of abortion, and everyone agrees that the anti-abortionists have the right to their views, it is simply that they should not be expressing their views in that place. If you agree that the harassment of women who have made the choice to have an abortion is wrong, and live or work in Ealing, please sign the petition and let your friends know - here is the link. Thanks.

ealing.cmis.uk.com/ealing/ePetitions/tabid/96/ID/38/This-petition-calls-for-Ealing-Council-to-end-the-persistent-presence-of-the-anti-abortion-vigil-outside-the-Marie-Stopes-Reproductive-Centre-on-Mattock-Lane-Ealing.aspx

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LOTRfan · 16/07/2017 23:43

From the looks of the pictures they'll all be dead pretty soon-at least it doesn't look as if they have cross generational support!!

Original poster
betty62 · 15/07/2017 14:38

They were out in force again this morning so please keep signing the petition and passing on to your friends.

ealing.cmis.uk.com/ealing/ePetitions/tabid/96/ID/38/src/2/This-petition-calls-for-Ealing-Council-to-end-the-persistent-presence-of-the-anti-abortion-vigil-outside-the-Marie-Stopes-Reproductive-Centre-on-Mattock-Lane-Ealing.aspx

Harassment of women using the Marie Stopes abortion clinic in Mattock Lane, Ealing, London, W5
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Sluttybartfast · 13/07/2017 11:34

And just to say I too have had a termination of a much-wanted pregnancy because it turned out to be an extremely complex and risky one that, for the sake of my existing DC, I did not feel I could continue. Thankfully there were no protesters at the BPAS clinic I attended, I'm not sure what DH would have done.

Downandoutnumbered · 13/07/2017 11:00

Signed. I live nearby. If I'd been faced with this bunch when I needed an abortion 8 years ago I might not have been responsible for my actions.

Sluttybartfast · 13/07/2017 09:01

Ealing residents DH and I have signed. I will see if I can come out and join Sister Supporter some Saturday morning as well.

ladyballs · 13/07/2017 08:45

This makes me so angry. I accompanied a friend to this clinic and thankfully there were no demonstrators on the day.

Spudlet · 13/07/2017 08:45

I thought that might be the case. Thanks for clarifying. Have been that petition organiser, and I know that at times, not every signature is helpful!

I will sign the change.org one, and wish you all the best with this. It makes me so angry, it really does.

Original poster
betty62 · 13/07/2017 08:38

Hi, you're not being dense at all. The council rules are that it should only be signed by people who work or live in Ealing. Although large numbers of signatures would show that there is a lot of support, I think that if the number of local signatories is outweighed by non-residents the councillors might try to claim that it is a national issue and so they should wait for the government to do something rather than taking action themselves.

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Spudlet · 13/07/2017 07:48

This is appalling, those poor women. Sorry for being dense, but can non-Ealing residents sign? I used to run petitions aimed at geographical areas and people would often sign who shouldn't, and it was a pain, frankly. So just want to be sure I'd be helping if I signed.

Original poster
betty62 · 13/07/2017 07:38

Hi, all of the councillors have been contacted and we have also been in contact with the community safety team at the town hall as if a public space protection order is implemented, they will be the ones to do it. Rupa Huq has been down to the protest on a few occasions. If a national policy is introduced it will take time as there would need to be changes in legislation. In the meantime, we hope to be able to make the council do something about the clinic in their borough which they could do using existing powers. The anti-abortionists have been there for about 20 years and it's time that the council did something about them.

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OlennasWimple · 12/07/2017 23:51

Those placards don't have anything on the ones that the protestors used to wave outside my local Planned Parenthood clinic. Occasionally I would walk in and out of the clinic just to show some solidarity with the poor women who were having to run the gauntlet of the religious bigots. Sad

MyNameIsInigoMontoya · 12/07/2017 23:30

You can also support the Back Off campaign here back-off.org/ which has similar aims to create exclusion zones to stop harassment outside clinics.

Various actions available to take from there, including donating to the campaign and/or writing to your MP.

NoLoveofMine · 12/07/2017 23:25

icclemunchy agree that it'd be a good idea to approach the councillors for that ward. It isn't Pound's constituency though - Rupa Huq is the MP and I'm pretty sure she's very supportive of the aims of this petition.

icclemunchy · 12/07/2017 23:12

Wow I'm local and I had idea the clinic was there let alone that this went on. It's awful! Have signed along with everyone else in my household.

As a side note have any of the councillors been approached? I've always found Julian bell fab to work with and Steve pound is a bit of a plonker but likes to get involved with stuff

Mrsmorton · 12/07/2017 23:11

Thanks Betty. Signed Flowers

DJBaggySmalls · 12/07/2017 23:05

There is also a petition on Change.org with over 160,000 signatures

www.change.org/p/theresa-may-mp-please-create-a-legal-exclusionary-zone-outside-of-abortion-clinics

Original poster
betty62 · 12/07/2017 23:01

Oh Yellowheart I am really sorry to hear that. What you were going through must have been awful and the last thing that you needed was to have to run the gauntlet of them. If the council does what it should, no one will have to go through that again in Ealing, although it won't change anything at other clinics across the country. I think it is the same organisation that runs the vigils at Ealing and Essex (if it's Buckhurst Hill?).

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NoLoveofMine · 12/07/2017 21:44

Sorry to hear that Yellowheart. Exactly why they're so horrific, uncaring and clinic users need to be able to access services free of their harassment.

PinkyPudding · 12/07/2017 21:26

I signed even though I'm in Leicester. I despise anti-choice wingnuts. Angry

Yellowheart · 12/07/2017 21:25

They do this outside the abortion clinic in Essex where I had a late term abortion as much wanted baby conceived after years of infertility had a condition incompatible with life. I was in such a state already you can imagine how they made me feel

WhattheChuff · 12/07/2017 21:20

They carry pink and blue rosary beads and one woman who used the clinic told me that they asked her what colour rosary she wanted for the child that she was about to kill

Fucking hell! They have no clue why the women are choosing to use that clinic and to do that to them...Angry

I signed and I'm certainly not local. I think in London when these sorts of things have been implemented they have a perimeter that the "protesters" have to adhere to or they get moved away.

AssignedMentalAtBirth · 12/07/2017 21:17

Ok, yes, it's awful.

TBH, I didn't know this was going on in the UK. Horrified

I am for freedom of speech.

Sometimes the right and the left seem to support suppression of speech to support their causes

ThymeLord · 12/07/2017 20:54

I'd sign but I'm nowhere near London. Vile people.

Original poster
betty62 · 12/07/2017 20:53

AsignedMentalAtBirth - of course they are entitled to express their opinion but that is not what they are doing; they are harassing the women that use the clinic. If they are unhappy about a woman's right to choose, they should petition their MPs or protest outside parliament. The only reason they protest where they do is to upset the women using the clinic in order to try to prevent them from exercising their choice. They carry pink and blue rosary beads and one woman who used the clinic told me that they asked her what colour rosary she wanted for the child that she was about to kill, How is that anything other than harassment? No one is asking for them to be banned, just for them to be moved away from the entrance to the clinic

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NoLoveofMine · 12/07/2017 20:48

The petition isn't to "ban them", it's to set up a Public Spaces Protection Order. Hardly "totalitarian madness" to try to protect women trying to access the clinic from harassment.

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