Former anti-choice activity Esther Mitchell speaks with ABC radio’s Jon Faine about why she changed her mind on the question of abortion.
You can listen to the interview here.
Former anti-choice activity Esther Mitchell speaks with ABC radio’s Jon Faine about why she changed her mind on the question of abortion.
You can listen to the interview here.
The attached advertisement will appear in newspapers in the Albury-Wodonga area this coming week.
It was paid for and placed by people I know and trust who continue to work on this issue in the Albury area.
HAVE YOU BEEN HARMED
BY THE ANTI-ABORTION
PROTESTERS IN
ENGLEHARDT STREET?If you have been a patient attending the Englehardt Street Fertility Control Clinic in Albury in the last 5 years, and feel you, your partner or support person have been offended, intimidated, harassed or violated by the protesters outside the clinic, we would like to hear from you.
We are a group supporting your right to pregnancy choices and health care, and are committed to improving your safety and privacy when you access legal health services. Comments made to us will be totally confidential and they will be used to highlight the harmful effects of protesters outside medical clinics.
Your input may assist us to stop the protesters and help protect other women from the emotional harm caused by them.
Please contact
alburychoice@gmail.com
By way of a disclaimer, I continue to maintain and update this website as a resource on the issue of access to fertility control in Albury, however I am not presently living in Albury, and I am certainly not qualified to provide legal, emotional or medical support.
For support in Albury, please contact the Fertility Control Centre directly. If you would like to get in touch with people working on this issue in Albury, you can contact the email address above, or contact me through this site and I will put you in touch.
Kieran.
2 August 2012, Albury Wodonga News Weekly, ‘Stop the protests’:
“I think they’ve got to be made to feel embarrassed and uncomfortable.
“If the whole community is against them they will stop … they’re not being challenged and I’m going to challenge them.”
Dr Mourik said if the aim of the group was to stop terminations, then women shouldn’t be accosted when leaving the clinic, describing that as “punishment” for their actions.
…
Counsellor Nadia Mellor said she had spoken to between 20 and 30 women traumatised by the protesters and had herself felt intimidated.
“I think with good counselling, most people are able to deal with the decisions they’ve made,” she said.
“What they can’t deal terribly well with is being confronted by these protesters.
“In a small rural area where women could easily be known by the protesters and know that other people then know about their business, that’s traumatising as well.”
See the full article here.
6 September 2012, Albury Wodonga News Weekly, “Anglican leader slams protesters”:
ANTI abortion protesters who meet at the Englehardt Street termination clinic each Thursday have been condemned by the most unlikely of sources.
Father Peter MacLeod-Miller, head of St Matthews Church, says the pro-life group is “off the rails” and putting forward an “unyielding” and harmful agenda.
On the 21st of June the Border Mail reported that two medical students attempting to enter the Fertility Control Clinic had been harassed by the so-called ‘Helpers of God’s Precious Infants‘.
One of the two students, who has since complained to the police, recently wrote this letter to the Border Mail, it was not published.
I’ve seen a copy of the statement one of the students made to Police, and I am not surprised that this student is VERY angry at the intimidating and harassing conduct of the ‘Helpers’ and Phil Murphy.
Harrassment, lies and videotaping in the name of the ‘precious infants.’
I am one of the medical students who lodged a complaint with police against two individuals who approached me on the property of the Englehardt St. clinic during my clinical placement and persistently harassed me with their agenda after I repeatedly told them they should leave me alone. The story Mr Phil Murphy told to the Border Mail of his group videotaping me approaching them to ask for pamphlets is blatantly untrue and sheds new light on the extent of unethical behaviour the protestors are capable of going to for the sake of their ideology.
Both the women attending these clinics and doctors and staff have a right to privacy and should not be intercepted and filmed when entering and exiting the clinic. The protestors who stand across the road making a social event of the day with their children are also infringing on women’s ability to have their medical appointments remain confidential. Indeed the protestors perpetual presence outside the clinic during the work day makes one curious how they might feel if someone invaded their privacy, filmed them and perhaps sent some of their names to Centrelink?
Mr Murphy may believe the inappropriate behaviour of his group outside the clinic is ‘protecting the rights of unborn children.’ However, the last time I checked 1st trimester foetuses have no enforceable human rights in our country. If the group takes issue with this fact they are certainly free to take their message to a more appropriate location and audience. Or better still, maybe they should consider taking their children to live in countries like Iran or Iraq where the local laws may be more conducive to their beliefs.
Tuesday 21 June:
BORDER doctor Peter Mourik says police should step in to stop anti-abortion protesters harassing women at Albury’s abortion clinic.
Unfortunately the Border Mail hasn’t put the full article online, but you can read it here.
Border Mail, 9-June-2011, Boys’ Facebook page closes:
ORGANISERS have deleted a Facebook group devoted to defending the privacy of clients of an Albury abortion clinic, after the page became host to a bitter debate over abortion.
…
[T]he group’s creator Alex Cameron, 17, said its message became lost after anti-abortionists flooded the page with comments and links.He said the group was meant to support the right of women to access legal termination services without being filmed or accosted — not debate abortion.
Read the full article here.
The Age, June 1 2011: ‘No film’ call by abortion clinics:
ABORTION clinics are calling for the state government to crack down on protesters who have started filming women as they enter and leave clinics.
…
Dr Susie Allanson from the East Melbourne clinic said patients were distressed by the practice and concerned about what the protesters were doing with the photos and footage of them.”There’s no doubt that this is another way to intimidate women … It’s very threatening,” she said.
Full article here.
I would like to thank the Border Mail and journalist Brad Worrall for their ongoing coverage of this important issue in today’s Border Mail.
However, I feel that today’s otherwise fine article opens with an overely melodramatic line:
TENSIONS between anti-abortion and pro-choice protesters in Albury are at boiling point.
I attended yesterday’s action and I’ve spoken to a number of other participants. From our perspective it seems something of an exaggeration to describe “tensions” as “at boiling point”, as if violence or mass discord were just about to erupt on the streets of Albury.
Yesterday’s action by those of us standing in defense of women’s rights was an entirely peaceful, civil, and largely incident free gathering.
We have no reason to believe that next week’s action will be any different in this respect.
- Kieran Bennett.
Today’s Border Mail coverage of yesterday’s action is availible on their website here.