Life News
Yesterday, a mother’s testimony of how she was helped by pro-life counsellors outside an abortion clinic was read out in Parliament. Sir Edward Leigh, Conservative MP for Gainsborough, delivered the testimony of “Kate”, during a debate led by Rupa Huq MP on public order legislation outside “family planning clinics”.
Since the decision by Ealing council to try and impose a public spaces protection order (PSPO) around the Marie Stopes centre in Mattock Lane, Dr Huq has been campaigning for nationwide legislation, claiming that pro-life groups outside abortion clinics “harass” women. However, the testimony from “Kate” illustrates how untrue these assertions are, and how vital it is that women are allowed access to alternative choices.
I Leapt Out of the Window
“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,” the testimony began. “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.”
Still not happy with being there for an abortion, Kate “leapt out of the ground floor window and cleared 3 fences to escape. I talked to the woman on the gate again, who offered any support I needed to keep my baby and this gave me the confidence to leave where I was supported by the group that this women worked with.”
What Would Women Like Me Do?
She didn’t find any aggression from the pro-lifers outside the clinic, but was given help to keep her daughter. Her story ended with a powerful message to MPs:
“The potential introduction of buffer zones is a really bad idea because women like me, what would they do then? You know, not every woman that walks into those clinics actually wants to go through with the termination. There’s immense pressure, maybe they don’t have financial means to support themselves or their baby, or they feel like there’s no alternatives. These people offer alternatives."
“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.”
Sir Edward Leigh spoke to offer a different perspective to that offered by Rupa Huq, who compared the pro-life groups outside Ealing to the “talk all over the media about the harassment of women in Westminster.”
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