"Don't give me any of your Pro-Life #*@!"

I was outside marie stopes last week. Handing out leaflets that give info on the help available to women who will, with God’s help, decide to choose life instead of abortion. Sometimes people think that we are there to condemn and judge the ladies that are coming to the abortuary which, I might add, we definitely are not there to do. So people sometimes shout abuse at us while passing by, or tell us that they don’t like what we are doing, even though they don’t take the time to ask about what we are doing!
So anyway, I tried to hand a lady a leaflet and she promptly told me that she didn’t want any of my “anti-choice ***** ”. That we were “out of order” being there.
So I told her we were pro-life. She argued that we were not so I asked her when she thought life began. To which she answered “At birth”.
I then told her that medical scientists & biologists largely agreed that life begins at conception. She disagreed with this fact and told me she thought it was untrue, as she worked for the Department of Health .
I then made he mistake of asking her, sarcastically, if she was a scientist or a biologist, to which she replied that she was and then walked off!
We are taught to see the person of Christ in all the people we meet while we are outside the abortuary.( especially the ones who are nasty to us). So instead of being sarcastic, what I should have done was pray for God’s blessing on her. But while we are doing the vigil, God reveals things like that to us all the time.
Later while I was praying a few things came me; While looking through one of the leaflets, I noticed there were plenty of choices in it- just not the one option of killing a baby in the womb.
My thoughts and prayers also came around to the horrible murder of pregnant Nikitta Grender and her unborn daughter who she had already named Kelsey Mae. May they rest in peace. It had been all over the news that the perpetrator of this horrendous crime would also be charged with child destruction and rightfully so. The lady who said that she worked for the health deptartment might not agree but thank God, in this case, the Crown Prosecution Service does.

Eddie Bauer

What to do for Lent?

What should I do For Lent? Go and pray at marie stopes abortuary at 108 Whitfield Street, London, W1T 5EA, with Good Counsel, 9am until 1.30pm Monday to Friday each week? Or should I go to Bedford Square, London, WC1X and pray outside the bpas abortuary as part of the 40 Days for Life? Or should I go to Both?

As this is quite a large undertaking for the Pro-Life Movement in London, so please do what you can to help.

If comming to Whitfield Street please let us know if you can as that helps our schedule.
Text 07932105696

Stuart McCullough

Praying In The Snow At An Abortuary

So the almost daily vigil at marie stopes house, which is now an abortuary, is off to a good start, Monday there was a tube strike, Tuesday it snowed and today one of the key organisers was off to the doctor as he is sick. In spite of all this a small number of Pro-Lifers have spent 13 and a half hours praying and counselling outside 108 Whitfield Street, London, W1T 5EA. The nearest tube stations are Great Portland Street and Warren Street.

So will you be there on Friday? 9am until 1.30pm. As I have said before, one of the things that saddens me is the fact that most women going for an abortion do not get an offer of help to keep their baby. When we go to the abortuary, the offer of help can be given. Whatever time you can spend with us will be a help, 30 minutes, 2 hours, the full 4 and a half hours, whatever. If you can tell us what times you can attend we can plan the day, but if not come anyway. Telephone 02077231740 or info@goodcounselnetwork.freeserve.co.uk

Who will be the first Priest to attend. (Photo is of Fr Whinder leading the prayers there as part of the 40 Days of Life)

Stuart McCullough

Twenty Incisive Questions For Marie Stopes International

London based Baptist Pastor, Mike Gilbart Smith has written to Marie Stopes International in response to their TV Advert and the controversy surrounding it. In a brilliant letter he asked them the 20 questions that they apparantly cannot answer, since his letter in May he received an acknowledgement and a promise of a full response, but he is still waiting as far as I can see from his blog, http://lovingchurch.blogspot.com/search?q=marie+stopes

I am printing the whole of his letter here, since sometimes readers don't/can't follow links through and anyway it really cuts to the heart of the matter.

When you have read it, and are reminded of the awfulness of what Marie Stopes and other abortionists do, don't forget to do something positive and sign yourself up for some slots with www.40daysforlife.com/london or if you are not in London, contact http://www.hgpi.co.uk/ to find your nearest abortuary vigil of prayer.

Dear Tony,
I’m writing as a pastor of a church who is going to be addressing the issue of abortion in my teaching and in some upcoming articles in the light of your recent advertising. I want to make sure that I would not be misrepresenting you in any way at all, though I should make clear to you that I do believe that abortion, and particularly providing abortion is immoral.
However, I also want to be as courteous as I can with those with whom I disagree. I do not want to assume bad motivation for what you are doing. I understand the arguments of wanting to provide “safe” (obviously for the mother and not the baby) abortion when your fear is that if “safe” abortion were not provided, then back street abortion would inevitably be sought. The compassion you show to mothers I believe to be genuine, but misplaced.
I do happen to agree with what I heard a Marie Stopes spokesperson say when she was hoping that there would be a removing of the taboo about speaking about abortion. I too hope that this taboo will be removed so that there can be an honest public debate about abortion.
To contribute to this debate I hope to write some articles about abortion and about Marie Stopes in particular. There is much information on your website, but there were some questions that I didn’t find answers to, which I would be very grateful if you’d answer.
I must also be clear that intend to distribute your answers.
If you would rather meet in person to have a face to face conversation, I would also be very glad to do that.
(I will use the term “mother” for the pregnant woman). Feel free to exchange the term for “Pregnant woman” if you would prefer that term, or to use another term of your choosing.
1) When speaking to a mother will you always make it clear exactly what help is available to mothers who decide to keep the baby.
2) What ongoing support do you offer to mothers who decide to keep the baby?
3) Do you always ask mothers if they are feeling pressurised into having abortions from others (e.g. boyfriends, husbands, parents, or the general expectations of society)?
(Several women whom I have spoken to who have had abortions have told me that they felt immense pressure that in a society where abortion is legal, there will be people telling them that having an abortion is “doing the right thing” and that it is irresponsible to have the baby.)
4) Do you always suggest to mothers that it is never irresponsible to carry a baby and give birth once they are pregnant?
5) I’ve noticed in your FAQ’s that in more than sixty questions there is a lot of information about abortion, but there is no information on the development of the foetus. Do you think that the developmental stage of the foetus should be a factor that a mother should be informed about in order to have adequate information in making a decision as to whether to have an abortion?
6) I understand that you must legally have a sonographic scan before an abortion is carried out. What details from that scan will you always communicate to the mother so that she might make a correctly informed decision?
a. Will you always tell the mother the estimated age of the foetus?
b. Will you always tell the mother what this corresponds to in terms of development?
c. Could you outline the detail that you would go into as to the development of the foetus, with the following being a suggestive rather than an exhaustive list?
i. Will you tell the mother whether there is a heartbeat?
ii. Will you tell the mother whether the child has a brain?
iii. Will you tell the mother whether the child has a limbs and fingers and fingernails?
iv. Will you tell the mother whether the child has ears eyes and a nose?
v. Will you tell the mother which internal organs of the child are functional?
vi. Will you tell the mother the gender of the foetus if that is discernable?
d. If you don’t volunteer that information do you always ask the mother if she would be interested in knowing the facts about the foetus’ development in order to help her make her decision?
7) Do you have a policy in training staff that they avoid the terms “baby” or “child” in reference to the foetus?
8) Do you have a policy encouraging staff to use the term “pregnancy” instead of “foetus” or an equivalent term that would point to the fact that there is an organism other than the mother involved in the pregnancy?
9) Do you have a position as an organisation about when a human embryo/foetus becomes a human being?
10) Do you think that it would be morally acceptable to provide abortion even if you believed the foetus was already a human being?
11) If infanticide were legalised in some country, would you offer that as a service?
12) What is the minimum time allowed for a proper counselling session to look through all possible options before going ahead with an abortion?
13) How much did the NHS pay you last year to carry out abortions?
14) Do you think that there is any conflict of interest in Marie Stopes providing advice on whether a mother should have an abortion when Marie Stopes is paid for providing abortions?
15) In order to get your email address I phoned the 0845 300 80 90 number. Will my call automatically be counted in your statistics as being from a woman who called for advice but didn’t receive an abortion?
16) If a woman calls your line twenty times, will they be “counted” on your statistics of the number of women you’ve helped once or twenty times?
17) If after an abortion, the baby (I assume we can now use this term without controversy as she is outside the womb) shows some signs of life, do you have a policy stating that the medical personnel present should act to resuscitate? Do you have a policy saying that they may not act to resuscitate?
18) Would you carry out an abortion if the stated reason given by the woman was that she wanted a boy, and this foetus is a girl?
19) If asked would you carry out a selective abortion in order to remove the healthy girl from the womb and leave the healthy boy in the womb?
20) In your five abortion clinics in China, what proportion of those who are aborted are girls?
Thank you so much for your willingness to answer these questions. In removing the taboo from conversation about abortion I trust that you are wanting honest, open and informed debate. I hope that you taking the time to answer these questions will add to the honesty and help to remove the taboo from the abortion conversation.
Perhaps if you want to add to the honesty of the debate you’d also be happy to post the answers you give on your own website?
Many thanks,
Sincerely,
Mike Gilbart-Smith

Advertising Standards Authority: Don't call Pro-life Help Real Help

Despite rejecting more than 5,000 complaints against Marie Stopes International for promoting abortion on TV, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has gone on to bowdlerise a Pro-Life advertisement on the London Underground.
The Good Counsel Network recently placed an advert in London tube stations to reach women in crisis pregnancies and offer them help, as part of their Maria Stops Abortion Campaign. But once the advert copy was submitted to the company who deals with much of the advertising on the Tube, they referred it to the Advertising Standards Authority’s Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) to ensure that it didn’t breach the Advertising Standards Code.
CAP’s first response warned that the use of the name “Maria Stops Abortion” could mean that the poster was seen as denigrating Marie Stopes International. Phrases in the Pro-life ad such as “Find Real Help” and “We really can help” were read as attacking Marie Stopes' failure to provide help. The Good Counsel Network immediately agreed to remove this text from the ad. We felt it was better to get the ad up quickly than to spend months wrangling about the text Maria Stops Abortion being in it or not.
CAP had stated that:

“Because the [ad] mentions ‘Find real help’ and ‘we really can help’ in relation to the Maria Stops Abortion copy [this] would be seen as a claim that a competitor cannot help. We would advise removing the relevant words ‘real’ help/ we ‘really’ can help. They could say ‘find help’ and ‘we can help’ in order to position their service in a less critical manner.”

I then phoned CAP and assured them that “Maria Stops Abortion” was being removed from the advert. I was suprised to find that CAP officials, however, continued to claim that Marie Stopes was still being denigrated by the ad, even though it no longer mentioned them at all!
Tom Marshall, a copy advisor with CAP said that their concerns about the terms, "Find real help" and "We really can help" remained the same as before. He insisted that we were clearly criticising Marie Stopes. Actually, as I pointed out, nothing in the advert referred to Marie Stopes at all. But Mr Marshall replied, "They are your main competitor".

Why should our ad be seen as having a go at MS not for example BPAS or another abortion provider? He replied that due to recent events such as the Marie Stopes TV ad and the furore it caused, people would assume that Marie Stopes were being criticised for a failure to provide genuine help to women in crisis pregnancies.”

Why they were so protective of Marie Stopes I did not know, but a quick look at the ASA's adjudication on the Marie Stopes TV ad helped me to understand. It shows that they have passed that ad accepting Marie Stopes' claim that:

"The ad did not encourage, promote or advocate abortion, but raised awareness about MSIs 24-hour Advice Line, which provided information about sexual health and all pregnancy choices, including, but not limited to, abortion."

The ASA adjudication states:
"We understood that MSI was a Pregnancy Advice Bureau (PAB) regulated by the Department of Health and, as a provider of services on behalf of the NHS, were obliged to offer a range of advice on all the options available to pregnant women."
and again:
"We also noted that many complainants regarded the advertisers as advocates of abortion and therefore interpreted the ad as a promotion of abortion. However, the ad was for an advice service for women dealing with an unplanned pregnancy, and stated that MSI could help women who were "pregnant and not sure what to do". We understood that MSI provided a wide range of advisory and health services and advised on all options during consultations with clients. We noted that the ad did not focus on any one particular service offered by MSI and did not mention abortion. We therefore considered it was an ad for a general pregnancy advice service for women who wished to learn about and discuss their options, which might include, but were not limited to, abortion."
Unfortunately, several recent calls I made to MSI's Helpline (sic) have shown that their operators were unable to provide the number of even one UK based pregnancy help centre. I was given the name of Sidelines (a USA pregnancy centre) but then told "Oh sorry that's not in this country". On another call though I stressed that I was calling for a woman who was under pressure to abort and had serious money problems, the operator repeatedly tried to send me to the Family Planning Association, Brooks Advisory Centre or Connexions. Presumably because these agents of death were the only people she had numbers for.
Understandably enough, for as Our Lord said:
Every kingdom divided against itself, shall be brought to desolation, and house upon house shall fall. And if Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? (Luke 11:17-18)
See the ASA Adjudication on Marie Stopes here
Despite their own and the Advertising Standards Authorities assurances to the contrary, Marie Stopes International were totally unable to refer me for any help when I requested help for a woman wanting to keep her baby in the face of homelessness, pressure from others or debts.
It seems ridiculous that the ASA considers it’s role in this case to protect Marie Stopes against any imagined attack on it. Once the text Maria Stops Abortion was removed from our ad there was no reason for anyone to take any thing in the ad as an attack on Marie Stopes. The emphasis on REAL help was aimed at women who have real practical needs such as financial problems or nowhere to live. In our experience these women expect that they will be offered tea and sympathy but no concrete help.
We hope we have still managed to get this across despite the censorship.

You can see the text of the advert before and after censorship below. Changes have been highlighted in bold.

The Original Text of the Advert:
Find real help and support in a crisis pregnancy, today. Whatever the problem is, we really can help
The Good Counsel Network is a Catholic, Pro-Life group based in London. We provide friendship, creative solutions, real practical help and support to women in crisis pregnancies and afterwards, regardless of their beliefs, nationality, legal status etc.
This advert is part of the Maria Stops Abortion Campaign

The Bowdlerised Version
Find the help and support you may need in a crisis pregnancy today. Whatever the problem is, we can help.
The Good Counsel Network is a Catholic, Pro-Life group based in London. We provide
friendship, creative solutions, practical help and support to women in crisis
pregnancies and afterwards, regardless of their beliefs, nationality, legal status etc.
Blessed Virgin Mary, Pray for us!

Clare McCullough

Symbollic Action at the Gates of Hell

The day of the Marie Stopes’ TV ad, we arranged a peaceful, prayerful vigil outside Marie Stopes House. The day of May 24th dawned, the sun dazzled and the sky was a brilliant mantle blue.
Three of us, Lynne, Sr. Chinedum and I walked onto Whitfield Street, walked towards Marie Stopes House with the intention of starting the vigil. The minute we reached the railings of the building we heard an aggressive man (who we later learned was some kind of security guy) say, ‘Who are you? Are you here to obstruct the entrance to Marie Stopes, are you? You are not allowed.’
‘And who are you?’ asked Lynne.
‘I work for Marie Stopes International, and I’m telling you not to obstruct our building.’
Lynne kept her voice very calm, did not stop setting up for the vigil and pointing to the posh Marie Stopes building, she said,

‘That is Marie Stopes’ building, inside there, we are on the pavement. The pavement is not Marie Stopes'. You are also on the pavement, I can’t tell you to get off the pavement.’
The angry man didn’t say anything in response; we blessed ourselves with holy water from Lourdes, stayed at the first door of the building, and started the Joyful Mysteries. A Marie Stopes side-kick came out and asked the security guy what we were doing there. The side-kick was dressed professionally, but I never learned her job-title, yet her job that day consisted of frog-marching pregnant girls from the street inside the clinic. The street is not owned by Marie Stopes, yet this side-kick started the business of Marie Stopes on the street, by marching up to a woman approaching the building, putting her arms around her in a ring shape, saying ‘you don’t need that thing’, when we tried to put a leaflet in her hands, and would not let her make the choice as to whether tshe wanted to speak with us or not.
The girls would approach the first door, but were frog-marched into the second door. That meant we had to cover the two doors, the first where the girls would approach, and the second where they would enter. Sr. Chinedum stayed at the first door.
Another Volunteer, Mary (like myself) and I went to the second door and finished the first of seven Rosaries, and ten Divine Mercy chaplets.
During our prayer time, a camera crew arrived from a French television station. They received bright smiles from the two Marie Stopes workers, and got a cheesy ‘Hi guys!’. The journalist with the camera crew wanted to interview me, but I declined. It could have been potentially disastrous to do so; during that precious time I was there to offer help and to advise girls, I could have ‘missed’ a girl by wasting time talking to an antagonistic camera crew. I had to be ever vigilant and ready to smile at a girl who at any moment had got the courage to speak to someone who wasn’t death peddling. But also, the Vigil itself is the complete message; praying and offering help speaks volumes, so there was nothing further to communicate to the press.
My refusal to speak to the French crew did not stop them asking at least four more times to interview us, and then pointing their camera five inches from my face. The other Mary had a touch of palpitations when the French camera crew zoomed in like gigantic bugs. For a couple of seconds I stopped praying and said, ‘I’m so nervous about that camera, we can’t do as good a job of talking to the pregnant mothers.’ The other Mary made a very good point in response to this; ‘we live in a society where cameras are everywhere. We are always on camera. But with that guy putting that camera in our faces it’s more obvious.’
After the French camera crew had finally strutted away. We had a small lull and were able to give four girls leaflets without a camera trailing us. Then the BBC came. The atmosphere seemed very cordial between the Marie Stopes workers and the BBC. In the distance, I heard the BBC journalist apologising to the Marie Stopes woman who was marching women into the clinic. And there were warm smiles and handshakes. The BBC filmed us, looked at us with stone faces, but cleared off fast. Meanwhile more people came to pray in front of the clinic, and six women and one man were praying the Rosary.
There was a blessed quarter of an hour when no girls went into the clinic, and we prayed all the harder. The security guy violently thwacked a bottle against the railings as if it was a baton just behind me and the other Mary. Someone working in the building came out, pointed at us and said mockingly, ‘do I need salvation? Look at them!’ ‘Oh yeah! You need salvation all right. What a joke!’ said the woman who was marching the girls in.
Another British camera crew came but didn’t stay long, and didn’t say who they were. A Polish camera crew came, and what dumbfounded me was that the pretty blond reporter gave us a sincere smile, and the cameraman waved at us. They told us that Poland is a very Catholic county, and that praying outside clinics was of great interest to the general population, and that the Polish people would support our vigil. This was almost in stereotypical contrast to the attitudes of both the British and French crews. The Polish crew asked – politely – if they could ask us a few questions. We declined again. The sun was still dazzling, and I had to feel sorry for the many heavily covered Muslim teenage girls who trudged their way into the clinic looking dejected. But they weren’t the only ones suffering the bright grill of the sun, the clinic workers were getting uncomfortable in the sun, and at quarter to one, the woman asked us,
‘Are you going to be here all afternoon? I said are you going to go away at any point?’
At one, we packed up our things and strode out of the street. I gave a fleeting glance to the clinic workers who lingered outside the clinic, they fixed sharp eyes on us to make sure we were leaving. We had visited the gates of hell, but were not staying.

Mary O' Regan

Read what the retired Bishop of Lancaster, Bishop Patrick O'Donaghue said about Marie Stopes TV Ad Campaign here.

Prayer Vigil Outside Marie Stopes House, Also Shown On TV

On Monday the 24th May, Marie Stopes Abortion providers aired the first Abortion TV advert in the UK on Channel 4.
Many good people responded to this advert by contacting their MP, channel 4 and Marie Stopes themselves.
Many joined us in Prayer and Fasting on the 21st May.
On the day the advert was to be aired, the feast of Our Lady Help of Christians, a small group went to Marie Stopes House which is now an abortuary and whilst praying offered real help and support to the pregnant women going in.
Whilst the main purpose of this prayer vigil was to help the women, four film crews arrived at Marie Stopes in relation to the advert, they stopped and filmed us praying. As a result we had part of the Divine Mercy Chaplet recited on the national BBC News! Not a bad thing.

It is vitally important that when these issues arise, we sign petitions, lobby our MPs and contact the culprits etc etc.
But it is also vitally important that we go to the scene of the tragedy and offer to help resolve the women’s problems and not just when abortion is in the news.
It is also vital to remember that if Pro-life work is not supported by prayer and fasting it will come to naught.

Stuart McCullough