SPUC has sent a strong message to ministers in Westminster and Scotland to Save the Right to Save Lives, in petitions signed by nearly 4,000 pro-lifers across Britain. The petition signatures were posted to UK Home Secretary Priti Patel, and Scottish Cabinet Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf MSP respectively, calling on them not to bring in buffer zones around abortion facilities.
Alithea Williams, SPUC campaigns assistant, said: “We would like to thank all our supporters who signed this petition. It sends a strong message to government that peaceful pro-life citizens must have the right to offer help to women outside abortion clinics."
“The petition comes as attempts to introduce buffer zones both nationally and locally have ratcheted up”, she went on to say. “There are two private members bills on the subject currently before Parliament, a buffer zone has just been implemented in Manchester and the pro-life vigil in York is under attack. Pro-lifers need to speak up strongly for our democratic right to witness and to be a lifeline to women.”
York
Pro-choice activists have been agitating for a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) in the City of York. Over 2,000 people have signed a petition calling for a “safe zone” to stop vigils taking place around the BPAS clinic on Wenlock Terrace.
Alithea Williams said: “The situation in York is worrying. Petitions signed by local people can be used by councils as the impetus to start legal proceedings to introduce a PSPO. This happened in Ealing and Manchester. The pro-abortionists have even held protests outside St Wilfrid’s Catholic Church in York on Sundays, as people are entering the church.
“This reaction against the 40 Days for Life vigil is taking place in spite of the BPAS clinic in York being closed due to COVID-19. Women are currently being advised to use the “pills by post” scheme instead, but members of the York pro-life vigil say that it is “powerfully meaningful” to pray outside the clinic where hundreds of unborn babies have perished. Despite no women actually going into the clinic at the moment, the activists still say that their community needs protecting from ‘fear and intimidation’ and they want action now to prevent any further vigils.”