Pro-Lifers told to keep their distance

[longwayoff]

A court has ruled that anti-abortionists should keep 100 meters away from women attending the Ealing clinic. AIBU to say quite right too?

YABU. I believe that abortion should be legal but I am terrified by the government shutting down and moving protests. I think everyone should be able to protest where they like so long as it is not dangerous.

Instead I think we should use counter protests until they give up.

If they were really pro life they'd be helping the children that are already here. They'd be opening youth clubs and food banks and supporting children in poverty or with problem. They're anti choice. Would they rather a woman get it done in a back alley and risk her life because they're are valid reasons that are hers alone. I like to think I'd never need an abortion but I thank my lucky stars I've never been in any of the million situations where I might need one.

Needs to be further. But about time. If they want to change things they write to their MP. Their intent is shame and embarrassment of women not actual change. Vile people.

There are women who would like to choose to continue with a pregnancy but don't feel they are able to due to unstable housing and finances.

It's interesting because most of the people who work with me in housing, social care and actually support young mums are firmly pro-choice. ACTUAL choice, which means supporting abortions for those who want an abortion, and housing and support for those who choose to have a baby.

What's to stop these philanthropists standing 100m back with a big sign saying, "here's 100k to raise your baby to adulthood, sign up here"? They don't exactly do that though so they?

Not really @SunnyIn it's hard to put into words but I think my views on this should only impact on me. Everyone else gets to make their own choices on what they do and I don't think my views should be imposed on anyone else. I would never have an abortion unless not having one resulted in my death (I already have children and I want to see them grow up). For me, it's a matter of conscious so facilities should be provided that ensure care is safe. I also think we should have properly subsidised childcare, bring back Sure Start and better ante-natal care so women and children had better options. These protestors offer nothing to women and shouldn't be allowed to be there.

Excellent result.

These anti abortion thugs should have no place in a civilised society. They sound dangerous and disturbed.

This was won on Human Rights defence, we need to guard our access to them.

Live discussion of it on now on LBC. Shelagh Fogerty is very good.

There should be a complete ban. Those protestors are making an often extremely difficult and emotional decision so much harder.

What exactly are you terrified by, chocolatehat? The only thing that has changed in Ealing is that it's now not possible for the protesters to tell who is actually attending the clinic and it's possible for women attending the clinic to do so without seeing the protesters. Their ability to protest legally has not been impeded in any way. They were never legally permitted to harass people in the way they were doing.

OP, Can you ask MNHQ about changing the title of this thread, please? The term 'pro-lifer' in relation to those radicalists who wish to criminalise abortion is offensive and inaccurate for the hundreds and thousands of British women (and MNers) who have had a termination and who are most definitely NOT 'anti-life' (which is what carefully positioned use of the term 'pro-life' implies).

Should be even further imo but YANBU, they are disgusting.

of course they have a right to protest, but they don’t have a right to harass and intimidate women who are doing something perfectly legal. If they actually cared about changing things they would demonstrate and lobby the politicians who set the rules. But instead they choose to harass vulnerable women because they’re an easier target.

Anyone can do what they want with their own body. But they don’t have a right to control what someone else does with their own body. Which honestly is the fundamental difference between anti-abortionists and pro-choice.

Hundred Metres not nearly far enough.

The three-mile territorial limit off the coast would be about right.

Name change test

YANBU. There was a successful campaign for exclusion zones outside all the clinics, it was overturned by home secretary Sajid Javid.

Ok it worked, so I'll give you my thoughts (with a reminder that you did ask!). I do strongly believe that life begins at conception, so deliberate non-nurture of that life is murder. To me, it's not entirely the woman's body and her choice because there is another body in there too which is not getting a say. I have heard so many times about people getting an abortion because 'it's not the right time' or 'need to get my career to a certain place' first, but I'm sorry, they are not reasons to kill someone. Sometimes it's that people just need to be more careful in the first place (unprotected sex when drunk), or were unlucky with birth control failure, but that's still not the baby's fault. I would personally not criminalise it completely but I would be in the exceptional circumstances camp...where there is threat to life/incest etc. I know that's unpopular but that's how I feel about it. I certainly don't agree with any kind of harassment but I would agree with peaceful protests, especially if anyone were having last minute doubts and could be helped in some way to have the confidence to continue with the pregnancy.

''In a written statement, Mr Javid said the review had collected evidence that showed the actions of protesters had left patients distressed and caused some to rebook their appointments and not to follow medical advice.

He said that in some of these cases, protesters distributed out model foetuses, displayed graphic images, followed people, blocked their paths and even went so far as to assault them.

But the home secretary said the review showed these activities were “not the norm” and most anti-abortion activities were “more passive”, including praying, handing out leaflets, and showing banners.''

Javids decision was criticised by groups including the BMA.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/abortion-clinic-buffer-zones-uk-government-protests-patients-terminations-family-planning-a8535696.html

Shame they can’t divert their energies into helping live children, say raising funds for hostels or kids in care. Maybe collecting food and school supplies for kids living in poverty at the beginning of a new school year. Or volunteering l at homework clubs to help kids who just don’t have the support they need at home.

They can then go and pray for immortal souls of mothers etc in the privacy of their own homes.

I do strongly believe that life begins at conception, so deliberate non-nurture of that life is murder.

And you are entitled to that opinion, @Namechange345678. What you are not entitled to do is to attempt to enforce that opinion on other people peacefully going about their entirely legal business. Don't have a termination. Don't interfere with people who are.

That video is terrifying

No woman should have to feel unsafe to the point where she had to cover her head and be personally escorted

If I lived near a clinic, I think I would be someone who helped to escort and support the women who are making a choice of their own bodies

A friend had a pregnancy terminated because her baby developed physically but the poor mite had no brain. The though of her having to run the gauntlet of these idiots makes me very angry.

I don’t think many take this decision lightly. Why should strangers try to attack you for doing something which is legal?

Murder is a legal concept. It s whatever the law says it is.

And life self-evidently begins before conception. Both parents are clearly alive, and so it the egg and the sperm.

Life is a process, not an event, and it is an extrememy wasteful process. The vast majority of fertilised eggs go down the toilet.

I used to live on the same street as a BPA clinic. Horrid older people and the odd Nun (so not exactly the target group of the service) waving rosary beads around and holding signs and praying loudly. Not very Christian behaviour! YANBU!

I walked a scared lady in one day. She was perfectly nice and normal, she just couldn't manage a 4th child. It was heart breaking, she was so sad about it. She asked me for help and told me her story even though it was none of my business.. I was happy to help.

"An aside, but I really wish we would stop calling these people pro-life. Nobody is anti-life. It's pro-choice or anti-choice, or pro-choice and pro-forced-birth.*
This.

If women are conflicted in their decision they have places they can go to and there are charities and medical advicr. The last people on earth who can claim any moral high ground are the vile, vile beings that try to manipulate and intimidate women.

If the protesters did only want to support the women, it's curious that the clinic staff were harassed. And not because they were mistaken for patients either. The Ealing Clinic staff kept a book, and probably still do, in which they recorded the incidents of harassment they experienced themselves and those reported to them by patients.

Human life is no more "special" or superior than the bees and flowers in my garden, or the bacteria in my gut. The same thing happens to us all when we die.

People only fixate on this nonsense about "life begins at conception" and talking about abortion as "murder" because it shields us from having to face the reality and meaning of our own mortality.

That's fine if it helps you cope, but it doesn't give you the right to harass, distress, or otherwise harm others.