Northern Ireland Councillor Patrick Brown has referred to an image of a 10-week baby in the womb as “vile imagery”. The picture was featured on a pro-life poster in Northern Ireland.
The pro-life image, which features on a poster in Northern Ireland, is captioned: “Fetus alive in the uterus 10 weeks following fertilization – THIS IS A BABY.”
Councillor Brown is calling for the poster to be taken down, labelling it “extremely graphic” and “insensitive”.
“Disappointed to learn an anti-abortion poster with extremely graphic images of a foetus has been put up in Ballynahinch”, Brown posted on Facebook.
He continued: “This is insensitive under any circumstances, but particularly inappropriate given the poster is less than 100m from a primary school. Regardless of your views on abortion, no one should be subjected to this sort of imagery, especially children and those it may upset due to personal experiences.”
Councillor Brown says he “will be speaking to relevant authorities” to have the poster taken down. He has also asked followers to bring other posters to his attention.
In 2019, pro-abortion MP Stella Creasy also referred to the image of an unborn baby, at nine weeks gestation, as “appalling” and “graphic”. She demanded that the billboard image be removed, calling it “harassment”.
SPUC comment
A SPUC spokesperson said: "Councillor Brown's comments are absurd, disingenuous and anti-free speech.
“Deeming an innocent human being ‘vile’ is a bigoted act. It is wholly unjustified and without reason. Councillor Brown should be ashamed of himself.
“The image in question is not ‘graphic’. It is simply a baby – a living baby with a head and torso, as well as arms and legs.
“This ridiculous attempt by an Irish politician to ‘cancel’ free speech and prevent people from seeing the truth about an unborn baby – that is, indeed, a human being – is what is truly ‘vile’.”
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