Originally published in The Christian Institute
A woman decided against going through with an abortion because of the gentle presence of pro-lifers outside a Marie Stopes facility, British MPs have heard.
The woman, known only as Kate, said her young daughter is an “amazing, perfect little girl” who would not be alive if the advocates for the unborn had not been there.
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Sir Edward Leigh MP told politicians about the woman’s story during a debate on buffer zones.’, which would prevent protests outside abortion centres.
‘Seething’
Leading the Westminster Hall discussion, shadow Home Office minister Rupa Huq said pro-lifers’ presence outside the Marie Stopes centre in Ealing has “had me seething with rage since the ’90s”.
She thanked major abortion giants BPAS and Marie Stopes at the beginning of her speech, claimed the issue was about women merely accessing “healthcare”, and falsely said it was “just not the case” that children in the womb at 24 weeks have fingernails.
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Although she conceded campaigners had the right to protest, she said they should not do so near abortion facilities, and called for a “national answer to the problem”.
Sir Edward said it was his duty “to offer another point of view”.
Pressure
He described one pro-lifer outside an abortion centre as “the kindest, most gentle person that one could possibly consider”. She was simply offering a different perspective on the value of the unborn life.
Leigh went on to give Kate’s testimony: “I never wanted to go through with an abortion but I felt a lot of pressure from people around me who offered it as a no brainer solution.
“On the way into the clinic at the Marie Stopes clinic at Ealing I was offered a leaflet by a woman who I spoke to briefly. She just told me she was there if I needed her.”
Support
Kate continued by explaining how she left the abortion centre and spoke to the pro-life woman again who, “offered any support I needed to keep my baby”.
“I didn’t find any aggression from the people offering support outside the Ealing clinic at all”, Kate added.
“I had my baby who is now three and a half years old. She’s an amazing, perfect little girl and the love of my life.
“I want MPs here today calling to introduce buffer zones to realise that she would not be alive today if they had their way,” she concluded.
Misogynistic
Last month MPs wrote to Home Secretary Amber Rudd about buffer zones, claiming that trying to change a woman’s mind on abortion amounts to “misogynistic” abuse.
Opposing the concept of buffer zones, the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) has said: “This isn’t about protecting women – if there was any harassment by pro-lifers happening outside clinics, they would be arrested under existing legislation. Moves like this simply seek to shut down any opposition to abortion.”
