Ealing abortion consultation

Ealing Council has launched a consultation seeking the public’s views on a potential Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) around the Marie Stopes Clinic on Mattock Lane. Should a PSPO be implemented, all pro-life counselling groups will be unable to provide vital care and counsel to women considering an abortion.

Existing legislation protects women from harassment or other inappropriate behaviour, and no action using such legislation has been brought against pro-life groups. On occasions when staff have called police to remove the small group gathered from The Good Counsel Network, no action has been taken as no offence has been made.

Thus far, Ealing Council have refused to meet with any women who have been helped by The Good Counsel Network to keep their babies. Indeed, the fact that some 3000 women have been aided to keep their children from The Good Counsel Network’s witnesses alone has been completely ignored by councils who seem intent on catering to a pro-abortion agenda. Rather than a presumption of innocence of pro-life counsellors acting outside abortion clinics, there has consistently been an assertion of guilt – based purely on unverifiable claims by abortion providers.

Ealing Council’s consultation follows the beginning of a nation-wide review by the Home Office that could see buffer zones installed, which would essentially ban pro-life groups from operating near abortion clinics.

Let the truth be heard!

Have you been helped by someone outside an abortion clinic to keep your child? Do you know someone who has kept their child as the result of pro-life witness outside an abortion clinic, whether in Ealing or elsewhere? Please respond to Ealing’s consultation as well as the Home Office’s national review. On both the local and national level, authorities need to hear the truth of the many lives saved as the direct result of caring and compassionate counsel offered by pro-life groups outside abortion clinics.

Have you had an abortion? Do you wish you had been given the opportunity to talk with someone who could have assisted in enabling and empowering you to keep your aborted baby? Ealing Council and the Home Office need to hear your story. They need to hear of the pain and regret facilitated by abortion clinics such as Marie Stopes on Mattock Lane, whose primary interest in procuring abortions is financial and who do not offer impartial counselling. They need to hear from women who believe they were deceived into feeling that they had no choice than to abort their child.

Have you been involved in or know anyone active in pro-life counselling or prayer vigils organised by The Good Counsel Network, 40 Days For Life, or Abort67? Your voice and any evidence you may have showing the peaceful, caring, and compassionate nature of pro-life activity outside abortion clinics needs to be considered.

As part of a democracy Christians are blessed to be able to freely express their views. Public consultations are a good opportunity to let truth be known. The Home Office “Abortion Clinic Protest Review” and Ealing’s “Consultation on a proposed Public Spaces Protection Order around the Marie Stopes Clinic” are no exception.

Should buffer zones be installed:

• Justice will not have been upheld as no evidence exists to implicate pro-life counselling groups in harassment or other intimidating behaviour.
• Freedom of speech and expression will be infringed upon – this could have implications for other spheres of life as well, creating the illusion that it is in a person’s rights not to be offended.
• Many women will no longer be able to receive a final chance of compassionate help and counsel, aiding them to keep the pre-born child.

Please read our briefing on the Home Office “Abortion Clinic Protest Review” here and respond to the consultation here. The deadline for this review is 19 February.

Please respond to Ealing Council’s “Consultation on a proposed Public Spaces Protection Order around the Marie Stopes Clinic” here. The deadline for Ealing’s consultation is 26 March.