CHURCHES RECRUITING ABORTION PROTESTERS
City hospital and women targeted as Catholic parishioners are asked: ‘What are you doing for Lent?’
CATHOLIC churches have come under fire for recruiting people to join protests run by a US-based anti-abortion group.
Texas-based 40 Days for Life has been slammed by pro-choice campaigners, MSPs and medical staff for holding “prayer vigils” outside clinics in Scotland.
Members of the group spend up to 12 hours a day holding signs with wording such as “We can help you” as they recite prayers and clutch rosary beads.
Their presence has been criticised for distressing women trying to access healthcare facilities.
The latest campaign, expected to run until March 24, comes as consideration of stage 1 of the Abortion Services Safe Access Zones (Scotland) Bill begins this month.
Now, the Record can reveal a number of Catholic churches in Glasgow are appealing
to their parishioners to join protests planned at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.
Holy Cross Parish, St Margaret Mary’s RC Church and the Diocese of Paisley have posted notices inviting then to attend the vigils.
Holy Cross wrote: “40 Days for Life – Ash Wednesday, 14 February 2024 until Palm Sunday 24 March 2024: What are you going to do for Lent?
“Please consider joining our 40 Days for Life Peaceful Prayer and Fasting Vigil outside of the grounds of the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Govan, Glasgow.”
The Diocese of Paisley posted
on its website: “This Lent, you are invited to consider joining the 40 Days for Life Peaceful Prayer and Fasting Vigil outside of the grounds of the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow.
“The Vigil takes place from 8am until 8pm each day from Ash Wednesday (14th February) until Palm Sunday (24th March).”
St Margaret Mary’s RC Church also posted a similar message on its Facebook page.
Labour MSP Monica Lennon condemned the appeals, saying church leaders should not be encouraging protestors to gather outside hospitals.
She told the Record: “This is predatory behaviour intent on scaring women away from abortion clinics, far from being prayerful or peaceful, and it needs to stop.
“Church leaders should not be encouraging crowds to gather at hospitals.
“It’s only a matter of time before a woman comes to serious harm.
“The architects of these antichoice protests won’t rest until abortion is banned. Safe access zones are urgently needed to protect women’s safety and privacy. They are also a necessary protection for healthcare workers.
“People are free to pray but not to prey on others.”
Holy Cross and St Margaret Mary’s are parishes under the Archdiocese of Glasgow which
said: “The Catholic Church’s pro-life position is well-known. The organisers of this campaign have made it clear that these prayer vigils are peaceful, never violent or intimidatory, and that their concern is for both the mother and the unborn child.
“Catholics may hold a variety of views about the effectiveness of such vigils, however it is important that peaceful protest should be allowed in a democracy.” The Diocese of Paisley was also contacted for comment but did not respond.
It is believed there are several more churches in Scotland recruiting for 40 Days for Life, as well as in England.
Stage 1 of the Abortion Services Safe Access Zones (Scotland) Bill will be considered by MSPs month.
If the legislation proposed by
Greens MSP Gillian Mackay is approved, it will create 200-metre buffer zones around healthcare facilities offering abortion services.
Such clinics have been repeatedly targeted in recent years, including the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Glasgow Royal Infirmary,
Sandyford Clinic, Edinburgh Chalmers Street Clinic and Aberdeen Maternity Hospital. Mackay said: “These protests are utterly wrong and show exactly why my Bill for buffer zones is so crucial.
“Nobody should have to pass crowds targeting them with placards and graphic images in order to access a hospital or a medical centre. It is organised intimidation and it has no place in a modern Scotland.
“Lots of people have shared really terrible and heart-breaking stories with me since I began the process. I urge anyone recruiting protesters, or anyone planning to take part, to show some empathy and think about what they are doing and the awful impact they are having.
“Abortion rights are human rights and we all have a right to access healthcare.”
The Catholic Church is opposing the Bill.
Peter Kearney, director of the Catholic Church in Scotland’s media office, said: “The Bill takes a sledgehammer to free speech and demolishes many other civil liberties, including freedom of expression, assembly, thought, conscience and religion.
“It could create for the first time in Scottish legal history, a thought crime. You would just need to think negatively about the actions of others to fall foul of the law.”
He added: “Peaceful protest used to be a cornerstone of our democracy.
“The proposed Buffer Zone law would at a stroke undo almost a century of settled international human rights law, leaving our courts to determine whether an individual’s thoughts were permissible or not. “Such a threat to universal and fundamental rights is genuinely frightening.”
This is predatory behaviour intent on scaring women away MONICA LENNON MSP SLAMS CHURCHES