PE Christians declare war on illegal abortion posters

Volunteer cleanup squad members removing some of the illegal abortion posters that are plastered all over Port Elizabeth. They are, from the left, Val Viljoen, David Hobson and Shelley Walters.

Many people in PE have noticed an increase in abortion stickers on poles, signboards and walls all over Port Elizabeth. One person has decided to tackle the problem by mobilising local Christians to join hands in ridding the city of these illegal  and offensive  posters.

PE freelance public speaker, Shelley Walters said when she first noticed the proliferation of illegal abortion stickers she felt angry that the local Government did not appear to be taking steps to remove them. “Then I was challenged by the word that says we are the light of the world. I felt if we are going to be a people who are called the light of the world then we should be people who remove litter.”

She said she also recognised that the representatives of the  kingdom of darkness were very active, as the stickers, with their false promises of ‘safe, painfree abortions’  were put up  all over the city at night and in the rain. “But I, as a representative of the body of Christ, was quite passive.”

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“I also know girls who have been through abortions and I have never met one who has been able to make peace with it. Whether or not they know God it just goes against a woman’s grain. And I realised the enemy has a two-fold strategy: the one is to take the lives of children but at the same time he takes the lives of those women.”

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She said she and a friend started doing something about the problem by removing illegal abortion stickers in the William Moffett area. Shelley said it was satisfying to see an area cleared but they started to feel discouraged because there were just too many stickers for two people to remove.

Then Shelley hit on the idea of using facebook to invite other Christians in the city to join in an ongoing poster clean-up campaign. On Saturday, a group of five people armed with water sprayers, scrapers and buckets, spent an hour-and-a-half removing posters in the Greenacres Shopping Centre area. Afterwards they enjoyed some fellowship at a coffee bar.

She said the inaugural Saturday group felt really good about doing something useful and also enjoyed opportunities to interact with inquisitive members of the public. “Someone asked who we represented and why we were  removing the posters. We said we loved God and we loved people, and we represented Him. It was awesome!”

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“We will return to the area in two weeks time as we only cleared up half the area. Then in August we will go to Richmond Hill,” she said.

She said she noticed that many abortion stickers were stuck on surfaces outside of Christian businesses, churches and schools. She hoped that more individual Christians would join the campaign and that churches and businesses and schools “will pick up where we have left off and keep their area clean”.

Anybody interested in joining in future poster clean-up outings can join the Nelson Mandela Bay Prayer Page on facebook, where meeting times and places will be posted.

From August, the plan was to hit the streets for an hour-and-a-half once a month on the first Saturday of the month. “It’s not a lot of time and actually it is a lot of fun as you get to meet people from all walks of life and do something practical together. Afterwards we will have a cup of coffee or breakfast somewhere and have a time of connecting with fellow believers .

Footnote: Gateway News was there on Saturday. It was fun. Hope to meet some of you on the next outing. For another perspective on the problem of crisis pregnancies, which create the demand for illegal abortions, see an article we posted in April about PE centres that offer a loving alternative to desperate women.

10 Comments

  1. Pingback: Port Elizabeth 11 July

  2. Well done guys with your achievements thus far. I pray for more hands to join u guys,as they come for whatever personal or kingdom reason. As iron sharpens iron,may u be all be sharpened.
    A big whoop whoop from Durban!

  3. Well done Shelly and friends. I support fully what you are doing. I hope more christians will join and be counted

  4. looking forward to next one allgoes well would love to join

  5. Angie MacNaughton

    As a volunteer at Heart pregnancy Crisis Centre in PE, these stickers break my heart and I will be looking out for your next meeting time to join you in removing them.Thank you!

  6. Hi
    thank you for the ad about the abortion stickers, we must put pressure on NMM to eradicate this problem. How can I help you in any manner,contact me please no 041-4811107,0848333800
    I had this on facebook not so long ago http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150222219598914&set=a.417391108913.195383.812353913&type=1&theater

  7. All it takes for evil to prevail is for good people to do nothing. This initiative is good. We did it on Monday as part of our 67 min for Madiba. Here is a photo of us around Pier 14 in the CBD. Next we will target Central and township areas. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150255780528297&set=oa.219761554733162&type=1&ref=nf