The abortion industry's "Back-Off" campaign is a money-driven exercise designed to stop women receiving help to avoid abortions, said the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) the UK's main pro-life organisation.
Paul Tully, SPUC's general secretary, said:"The campaign against these pro-life counsellors is being supported and run by private abortion clinics and others with financial interests in abortion. They do not want women getting help to avoid abortions. The abortion industry is losing money, because every week a few women who get as far as the doorstep of an abortion clinic change their minds. Most of these women never wanted an abortion anyway, but couldn't find help elsewhere.
"Pro-life counsellors are a threat to the abortion clinics' income. Every time a woman chooses to keep her baby, the clinics lose £500 or £600 in lost income. We estimate that they could be losing £100,000 a year because mothers decide to give birth instead of giving in to abortion bullying. Many women are pressured or bullied into 'choosing' abortion. Given the right support and resources, most women do not choose abortion", added Mr Tully.
"The lucrative abortion industry wants to criminalise the quiet and peaceful activity of the immensely kind people who give their time to stand outside abortion clinics and offer women help if they want to avoid an abortion."
Mr Tully continued: "The Back Off campaign has deceived many people. The abortion giant BPAS, which runs the Back Off campaign, is denigrating selfless people who kindly offer help to expectant mothers. The campaign website repeatedly asserts that women and abortion clinic staff are 'intimidated' and 'harassed' outside clinics. If this were true the police could intervene to stop it, but this is not the case.
"This pro-abortion campaign is simply about money", concluded Mr Tully.
SPUC does not run pavement counselling operations, but many SPUC members and officers have participated in such events. The eye-witness accounts they give testify that the vast majority of such events are peaceful, low-key and uneventful.
Paul Tully, SPUC's general secretary, can be contacted on 07939 178719 or 020 7820 3127. SPUC's communications department can be contacted on: