Campaign to Ban Prolife Presence

By Bernard Moran

There is a campaign underway to have the Government ban anti-abortionprotesters from standing across the road from the entrances to clinics andhospitals. It is being pushed by the Abortion Law Reform Association of NZ (ALRANZ) andcertain MPs in the Green Party. They want “bubble zones” created to stop alleged“harassment” as has been enacted in Tasmania and Victoria in Australia.The campaign raises issues of freedom of speech and the right to protest in a publicplace, provided the protesters behave themselves. Terry Bellamak, the president of ALRANZ claims that the protests are ineffective aswomen have already made up their minds and are determined to go through withthe abortion. Well, here is what has been happening in Hastings where a small Voice for Lifegroup have been quietly protesting on Friday when abortions are carried out. Theleader emailed me this week with an update: “We now know of 29 mothers whohave kept their babies due to the influence of either the signs or the information wehave shared with them when they approached us.” “The mothers have directly told us, or else their partners or parents.”Over in Thames, an elderly group of around eight protesters stand outside thehospital entrance on a Friday morning. They have been there every Friday for fiveyears and know for certain that two babies (possibly three) have been saved. One woman approached Alf, who is from Glasgow. Indicating her womb, she said“I’m going in there to get rid of it.”He replied: “Ach now love, please don’t hurt your wee bairn.”She looked at himintently for a long time and then threw her arms around his neck. “Guess what?”she smiled, “You’ve just saved my baby.”