To think the tactics of CBR UK are disgusting? Trigger warning - pro life.

[MistressoftheDarkSide]

I've been seething since Saturday when I encountered the organisation CBR UK on one of the busiest parts of our town centre.

CBR UK are a fundamental pro-life organisation claiming to have the interests of women traumatised by abortion at heart. Actually their roots are in the US and are underpinned by fundamentalist Christian beliefs.

Their way of educating and supporting women is to display 6 x 8 feet technicolor pictures of the aftermath of abortion in full view of women and children to get their point across.

A look at their Facebook page will prove to you I am not making this up. They place a warning sign ahead if the images, and also warn that they live film their activities, but it's obviously lip service.

They hand out leaflets and try to engage people

I challenged one of the very smug beatific older woman and suggested they must really hate women, but no, it's because they love and want to protect us apparently. And "God" - which slipped out as I took my leave and she called out God bless you. To which I responded how dare you bring God into this - and her parry was - why do you hate him that much?

Anyway, I'm posting this to make you aware that you might come up against this while doing your Christmas shopping.

Whatever your views on abortion, (Mine are pro choice and pro it's noone else's Goddamn business except a woman and her doctor) can we agree that this kind of "awareness raising" is almost psychological terrorism and should not be on our high streets in such graphic forms?

Women who have been rated, suffered traumatic medical miscarriages and are possibly accompanied by curious children don't need this shit rubbed in their faces while doing their Christmas shopping - or at any time.

AIBU?

see in my view the whole “Life begins at X weeks” is irrelevant. It’s all semantics. Women’s lives matter more. The women’s life trumps the life of a foetus. Bottom line. End of.

Went to a catholic school and during an RE lesson around the age of 15 was shown a video of a late stage abortion happening.
It still enrages me now as it was clearly for medical reasons but was presented as “look how cruel this is”.
These zealots don’t give a toss about women or children.
I’m genuinely concerned that we’re moving backwards with respect to women’s rights and bodily autonomy.

Of course they do! It’s a form of harrasment

Besides I thought an image stopped you having your abortion??

But my opinion is that abortion has been a net negative for women

Even if that was true, safe legal abortions are a hell of a lot less negative for women than illegal unsafe ones. Which is too often the real choice in countries where abortions are illegal or not accessible.

Unwanted pregnancies are a net negative for women. But the very same organisations who are anti choice re abortions are often also anti choice re conception.

There is no other legal killing happening in developed, peaceful countries - as it were - so they fixate on abortions.

Isn't there quite an overlap between anti-choice US states and those which still have the death penalty?

When we look at the institutions doing god's work - let's look at their track record. Abuse, peadophilia, mysogyny, rape, and the rest. In god's name my arse.

These old ladies protesting are probably the type married to sex pests and child molestors; who'd cover up for them and blame the women or children for seducing their poor innocent men.

That’s just a fancy way of saying they hate women but “in the name of religion”.

Funny how these Christians cherry pick which values to uphold. They still fiercely protect pedophiles even though I’m pretty sure the Bible says you shouldn’t rape children. They still try and justify Magdalene laundries even though abuse is apparently un-Christian

This is why I renounced the Catholicism I was raised with

They have an impact. They have an impact on young, vulnerable women. I would be terrified and deeply concerned at age 16, needing an abortion and seeing this. It's frightening, not because I care about a few shitty cells replicating inside.
These placards also influence and spread misinformation - which is dangerous.

It didn't literally stop me. I could still have if I wanted to. Shall we remove calorific information from food packaging lest it interfere with your ability to eat the contents?

What?

You’re completely contradicting what you said earlier:

If it wasn't for pro-life campaigners I would have aborted my first. I didn't and it was based on the images I saw

Eating a bar of chocolate is quite different than having an unwanted baby.

It’s quite obvious that you’re projecting your guilt about wanting an abortion onto others. You need to square that with yourself and leave other women to make THEIR choices

I have to say there’s no one quite as annoyingly pious in the pro life movement as someone who crows about changing their mind over an abortion. Like having a baby, despite demonstrating that you’re a person who isn’t exactly bright or kind, is a noble feat over taking the road you WANTED to take.

Also, no one cares.

I agree a lot of it can be rooted in christian fundamentalism, however the statement "There is no other legal killing happening in developed, peaceful countries - as it were - so they fixate on abortions." is technically incorrect.

Life support is turned off every day for people being kept alive by machines (similar to the function women's bodies play in a foetuses existence) yet they aren't queuing up outside hospitals protesting about that.

It's a complete hypocrisy.

Why should these lives be taken, can you clarify lest I speculate wrongly...

Also it's good to remind people that religion, all facets of it is a 'belief'. Not fact. We cannot apply laws to govern people based on beliefs that aren't rooted in any fact bar a book that was written thousands of years ago, which has been annotated over the centuries to mean whatever those doing the annotation wanted it to mean to suit agendas. It's just wrong on so many levels.

It's about much more than women.

What 'lives' are you talking about? I don't understand what you're getting at.

They're not "lives" when they are completely dependent on their mothers body to survive.

The emotive language is unnecessary - killing, murder, etc etc. I assume you'd tell a man he's committing murder if he uses a condom?

No its not. Its about women, and only women. No one else. Nothing else.

It's so interesting when it's someone who was apparently so sure they wanted one that their mind was made up, but then they were deterred by hearing the same arguments they would have been aware of before. And despite having at one point been sure they wanted one, they can suddenly no longer understand why any woman would and demand justification.

And even go so far as to say their personal views represent what the net outcome for women would be and what women should do!

Don't you find that incredibly interesting?

Is it? Please do elaborate. Just how unimportant are the women directly affected by choice around abortion?

Oh we know that, Annabella. We know.

I’m very much prolife but I don’t approve of displaying images of abortions in the public arena, especially where children can see them. They are simply too horrific.

Posting in caps convinces me you don't care