Pro-life witness in Westminster London, - A group of young pro-life supporters are holding a 24-hour sponsored silent witness and fast outside government departments which fund agencies that are responsible for abortion at home and abroad. Fiorella Sultana de Maria, the leader of the protest, said: "The British government is directly involved in the culture of death at home and overseas. Many women and girls have little or no choice about abortion. Abortion is being forced on Chinese women, secret abortions are being arranged for underage girls at UK schools, and developing countries are being pressured to adopt pro-abortion policies." The blindfolded participants, dressed in black, have been holding a banner which says "Out of sight, out of mind?" as well as "Abortion promoted overseas", "Secret underage abortion" and "Forced abortion in China". They have also given out leaflets explaining the reasons for the protest. Miss Sultana de Maria is research and information officer for the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC). The event started at 08:00 this morning and continues till 08:00 tomorrow (16 June). Funds raised by the sponsored fast and witness will help SPUC defend innocent unborn life. Our picture (click here for 3.8MB high-resolution version ) shows, from left, Mrs Katherine Hampton, SPUC's youth and student officer, Luke Johnson, a GCSE student from Cwmbran, Gwent, and Camilla Way, Luke's cousin and an A-level student also from Cwmbran. They are outside the Department for International Development in Westminster.