The Cape Town High Court today (Friday, March 7, 2014) upheld an appeal by Christian pro-life activist Peter Throp against a conviction in February last year for damaging property by placing pro-life stickers over illegal abortion stickers. The full written judgement can be viewed here. Prior to his conviction, the City of Cape Town hounded and threatened Throp for months, and the Mayor of Cape Town, Patricia de Lille, ignored his appeal for them to rather join him in protecting vulnerable women from the illegal abortionists. In June a Cape Town magistrate sentenced him to a fine of R5 000 or 3 months imprisonment suspended for 5 years. On Tuesday this week the City of Cape Town issued Throp with another summons in connection with his pro-life activities After today’s court ruling, Throp issued the following statement:
It is regrettable that we have arrived at this status quo on this issue, when with a little bit of compassion and thought (input) by the Mayor, the City could have avoided my prosecution.
The Mayor could have requested that the NPA suspend or decline the prosecution. It is a clear case of those in authority and trusted with the well-being of the public, could not or refused to see the ‘elephant in the room’. This whole issue is sad and certainly makes me ask if they are serious about protecting women from abuse? On the evening of my judgement and sentencing, I was in tears watching the story of Anna Booysen’s abuse being revealed on our TV News channels.
One has to look at what has been achieved by my placing of the ‘Value Life’ sticker on top of the illegal abortion notices. New contractors have been appointed, checks and balances have been put in place and possible irregularities in the returns have been addressed.
The cleaning of the environment has improved as the illegal, back street abortion notices, where they do get the opportunity to appear, can now be counted in their 10’s and 20’s and not in their thousands as before. And for two years prior to the ‘Value Life’ campaign the City was telling me that they could do nothing. (I would suggest that prior to the city’s resent positive action there was +/- half a million back street abortion notice’s displayed at any given time.) It is a good feeling to know that the authorities can be held accountable and that there has been a tremendous public awareness created, as many of the public are now tearing down these illegal abortion advertising posters on the lamp posts.
When one considers that at my sentencing, the prosecution called for leniency, yet the presiding Magistrate took it upon herself to sentence me to the maximum prison term of 3 months for this first time offence. One has to ask if there was ‘outside’ influence in the judgement? Because this action of ‘Value Life’ would have affected the whole country and would have called on all local authorities to take the action that the City of Cape Town were call[ed] on to take, which has had the positive result in preventing abuse against women.
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The City has the power to decline to prosecute and I will cite two incidents.
The first is that when the Metro Police arrested a street musician recently, they broke his guitar. Yet the NPA declined to prosecute the Metro Police members responsible, stating “there was no intent to do damage to property by Metro Police members”. Well equally, by placing my ‘Value Life’ stickers on the surface of illegal notices, there was also no intent to do damage to city property as my stickers never came into contact with the surface of any city property.
Recently somebody has seen the need to try to protect life in Bay Beach Avenue, Sunset Beach, Milnerton, by placing posters under a lawful ‘ stop’ sign. ( see attached photo [at bottom of page]) Whilst this is noble and most likely justifiable, they have taken action, most likely out of frustration, it nevertheless is illegal under Council By-laws.
This exercise that I was persecuted for, was not about abortion, it was about the abuse to women. The official figure is that at least 300 women a year die from going to illegal back street abortionists for an abortion.
Good people in society, particularly Christians have got to be prepared to hold elected officials accountable when they fail to provide for the safety of the environment that we reside in. If necessary Christians must be prepared to lose their freedom ([be] jailed) for standing up for truth and our ‘Bill of Rights’. In this particular case the end result has justified my actions as the authorities are now working to give us a clean environment.
Would I do it again ? Most certainly YES!
All human beings have basic, natural rights – the most fundamental of these is the right to life. The right to life belongs not only to the strong and the powerful. It belongs to all human beings regardless of age, dependency, or ability. The government exist to protect our natural rights and has a duty to protect the weak from the strong. We all benefit when the law respects the dignity and value of every human life. Government should protect the right to life because it is the foundation of all other liberties.
Abortion is irreversible, it is bad for a women’s health, it does their dignity no good and it cruelly kills an innocent baby.
I am very grateful to Adv. Darryl Cooke and Gunston’s Attorneys for their compassion and input.
All glory to Almighty God.
God Bless.
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Peter Throp ‘Value Life”
Well Done Peter!
Mr Throp’s tears of compassion for Anna Booysen caught my attention and I don’t doubt his sincerity. Rape, murder and abortion are all atrocities before God, of the highest order, and it’s hard to imagine that any Christian would not be moved by the inhumane suffering and evil done to these victims.
Forgive me, but here’s the peculiar part, the part which I just don’t get.
Let’s just imagine that Anna was not murdered, ‘just’ raped, like many thousands of girls and women are each year. And let’s imagine that Anna’s story is typical of many girls and women who are raped.
She goes home completely frightened, shattered and ashamed, and frantically tries to wash herself clean. But uncleanness does not leave her. She considers taking her own life, but cannot carry it through and so she does not cut herself deep enough, so she swallows the few pills she manages to find around the house.
She wakes up after her deep sleep feeling just as unclean, ashamed and frightened, and yes, this was no bad dream. Reporting the incident to the police is not an option, her and her family’s lives were threatened, and besides, she saw what happened to one of her friends who did report her own rape to the police. Her friend was treated like a liar, told that she agreed to have sex with the perpetrator, and in the end, the rapist got off free and the whole community turned against her. It even left doubt in the minds of her friend’s own family. No, reporting it is not an option for Anna, so she keeps it to herself.
After two months of hell on earth, Anna suspects that she is pregnant, and the pregnancy test kit confirms her deepest fears. Reluctantly, she decides to confide with her best friend, and is shocked to hear that she too has been raped. Her best friend points her in the direction of the Marie Stopes abortion clinic, but cannot go with Anna because she is still haunted by her own rape and abortion, more than four years later.
After another week of torment, Anna wakes up early in the morning and makes her way to the abortion clinic. As she gets close to the clinic, she notices that a crowd of protesters with signboards are standing around outside. “What’s this then ?” Anna hesitates and stands off from a distance.The signboards have scriptures on and references to life, and Anna rightfully concludes that they must be Christians. As a Christian herself, Anna momentarily considers going to speak to them, but these are strangers in the street, and so she brushes off any idea of sharing her shame and her secret with them. Then she sees the sign that says ‘Abortion is Evil, Abortion is Murder’, words that will echo in her mind all the way to the grave.
She turns around and heads back home, confused and dazed, with her secret fully intact inside her womb. She is unable to focus and is totally unaware of her surrounds, but somehow manages to notice a dilapidated sticker at the bus stop claiming that a Dr Goodluck does safe abortions at an affordable price. She is unsure why she does this, but she jots down his number on a piece of paper and then slips back into her ‘sunken hidden chamber’.
Once at home, she falls completely apart, again ! She feels the uncleanness in and throughout her body increasing, like she has fallen into a well of permanent ink and cannot get out, and it’s now penetrating deeper and deeper. And the smell of the rapist just won’t go away. She fears that everybody can see her uncleanness, and everybody can smell her shame. “Why has this happened to me, what did I do to deserve this ?” One more time she reaches out to God, but if uncleanness and shame brought only silence all the other times, this time the silence is deafening, with condemnation and guilt.
So Anna phones a neighbourhood church, not her own, they might recognise her voice. The kindly woman at the church is full of empathy and compassion,but makes it clear over the phone that Anna has no other choice but to give birth to the baby, and then have it adopted if she cannot keep the child. Similar conversations with other kind people at various other churches tell Anna the same thing ; she cannot terminate her pregnancy as that would be murder. One church asks Anna to come in for prayer, while another suggest that she needs to be tested for HIV.
Anna knew that she could not carry her baby to birth. What would her family think about her if she told them she was pregnant ? How would she finish her education ? How would she be able to continue with her part time job that gives her some much needed money ? Who would want to marry a soiled woman ? And now what about HIV ? Anna had not thought about that. For the first time, Anna feels the rage take completely over her being. She picks up the knife once again, and this time cuts a little bit deeper through her scars.
Actually, there is nothing peculiar about this story. For thousands of girls and women in this country this story is the norm, give or take a few of the details. Some of them visit Dr Goodluck, while others visit the blade.
The peculiar part is what we as Christians are doing about it. Are we moved by God to actually do something about it, or are we content to just talk and shout about it ? Where are all the thousands of Christian counsellors that are needed to lovingly stand with these women and guide them in the right direction ? Where are the hundreds of ‘safe houses’ that are required to take in these women, to love and nurture them until the birth, and then guide them in the ways of child raising or adoption ? We need information going out and ads placed in the media so that every girl and women who needs help knows exactly where to find it. Its time to put our money and time and efforts where our mouths are. Otherwise its time to put a sock in it and just shut up. The world is full of Pharisees, we need to start culling them from our midst. Making a noise is not doing something !
And to whom exactly is Mr Throps waving those signboards for ? Is it for the abortion clinic workers, or is it for the victims ? If it’s for the victims then please stop giving them the law, and start offering them grace. And I’m not talking about the kind of grace that says its alright to sin because you will be forgiven. I’m talking about the kind of grace that empowers the sinners to make the right choices and do the right thing. So Mr Throps, unless you can offer counselling and a ‘safe house’ to those seeking abortion, and advertise that on your signboards, I would suggest that you pay your fines and pray about the future of your campaign.
Our country is the rape capital of the world, and one doesn’t have to be a rocket scientist to understand that a very large proportion of abortions are as a result of rapes. A new government can make abortion illegal, and give us better policing and harsher penalties for rape, but they won’t stop the rapes or the abortions. If harsher laws and penalties are going to give us a clearer conscience and help us sleep better at night, then we are not the solution, and its best we just shut up and step aside and stop hindering those who are wanting and willing to respond rather than to react.
And for God’s sake, let the real men of God start teaching the younger boys and men how to treat a woman. A reputable national survey recently exposed the horror that one in three or five (I cannot remember) men in this country have admitted to rape. That’s not an elephant, that’s an apocalypse right in our front room. Or let me put it in words that men can understand : shut up and do something practical about it.
Hi Sonja. Thanks for your poignant contribution. We do need to reach out in practical love. I just thought it would be interesting for you to see this story that we published back in December 2012. http://gatewaynews.co.za/pro-life-sticker-activist-or-maybe-couple-saves-baby-from-abortion/
Dear Sonja, I feel your pain. However, all life is valuable no matter how it is conceived. To give you more knowledge and understanding, go to http://www.lifesitenews and read “I am afraid of this indisputable pro-choice argument’ by Matt Welsh. Friday March 7th 2014. Also view the debate between Peter Kreeft Vs. David Boonin http://www.youtube.com/watch.
May you grow in peace and wisdom with the Lord.
God Bless. Peter “Value Life”
I wonder if Sonya is aware of how many Christians (who are pro-life)are adopting abandoned babies and children born through rape? There are pregnancy crisis centres, which are better able and equipped to give assistance than a local church which lacks facilities and contacts.
I agree that children are growing up without moral values let alone training in how to build healthy relationships, largely because their homes and communities are dysfunctional and the adults are often delinquents themselves. Apartheid contributed to family breakdown, and the media and the ANC government have continued it by promoting and endorsing sexual licence.
The church has a vast mission field for ministering the transforming and healing power of the Gospel.
Peter and Terry Throp are Kingdom Workers!!
They are standing up and in for those who cannot defend for themselves.
We can all debate about this subject but are we actually taking up the cross and do what this couple is doing? I doubt that.
And yes they do offer counselling by connecting with and making use of the Ministry Teams that serve at Mighty Men Conference, Western Cape as well as the Christian Businessmen s Connect.
Thanks Peter and Terry for doing what everyone else is scared of or afraid to do, publicly denouncing abortion. The Mighty Men Conference of the Western Cape are pleased to have you on board and we promise to carry this cross with you, stand by you and support you all the way! We are extremely glad that you have partnered with us in our drive to teach men to take responsibility for their actions and become better men in society.
Sonja you are welcome to make contact with MMC WC and get involved.
God Bless.
Ina
http://www.westerncapemmc.co.za