A pregnant woman delivers an impassioned plea to anti-abortion protesters outside a GP clinic insisting they should stop “judging” women and making others “feel guilty”.
A video posted online shows the moment a heavily pregnant woman castigating anti-abortion protesters telling them their actions are “so wrong”.
Footage begins outside a GP surgery offering abortion services in Southwark, where the woman confronts members of the anti-abortion group Abort67 and asks them to stop filming to protect patient confidentiality.
Abort67 members denied specifically filming patients going into the surgery and claim that the cameras are being used to provide evidence against those who accuse them of bullying tactics.
The woman, who declined to be identified, says: “You are wrong in what you’re doing. You don’t know why people are doing what they’re doing, but you want to be out here judging and then filming.”
When one of the female protesters tries to fight back by claiming that she had an abortion in the past, the lady labels her a hypocrite.
She says: “You had an abortion but because you’re not happy with what you’re doing, you’re standing out here making other people feel guilty.
She adds: “When you had an abortion, that was your choice.”
Referring to a recent incident in which a new-born baby was found dead in a wheelie bin in North Yorkshire, she adds: “Maybe if their mum didn’t feel that way because of people like you, that baby wouldn’t have died.
“You think it’s better for them to get rid of it at ten weeks (in the womb) or to actually go through with the birth and then kill the child?”
She goes on to tell the group they should have researched about the local area before protesting as the clinic is near to Kids Company, a charity providing support to vulnerable inner-city children. “To be standing out here and making other people feel guilty is so wrong.”
As the woman walks away, the protesters are left speechless and are unable to argue back. Since the footage was uploaded by journalist Sunny Hundal, it has received more than 1.5 million views with hundreds of people taking to Twitter to applaud the woman for her “inspiring speech”.
@sunny_hundal @Neera_jah That woman deserves a medal. Absolutely brilliant. Those protestors make me sick.
— Wes Streeting (@wesstreeting) December 3, 2014
@sunny_hundal What they do is disgusting but it’s even more shocking that they FILM the women going to the clinic. This harassment must stop
— Dani (@danimadu) December 4, 2014
The campaign group Abort67, which was started in 2008, has been confronting women going into the clinic with posters and leaflets showing pictures of foetuses. Abort67 has previously spoken about how their actions “empower” women.
“All we’re doing is holding up banners of what abortion looks like,” its director Andy Stephenson has said. “If that causes such strong emotions like feelings of anger and distresses, we don’t deny that, but that’s because abortion is distressing.
“We certainly engage [but] if people don’t want to talk they just walk past, BPAS are infantilising women with this idea that they can’t handle being spoken to. All of our volunteers are polite and agree to a code of conduct.”