‘Stop the protests’
Nadia Mellor has counselled between 20 and 30 women traumatised by pro-life protesters. Picture: BLAIR THOMSON
A LEADING local doctor wants the public to rally against the anti-abortion protesters who meet weekly outside the Englehardt Street clinic.
Members of the Helpers of God’s Precious Infants gather outside the termination centre each Thursday with signs, pamphlets and plastic foetuses.
Dr Pieter Mourik, a retired obstetrician, met with senior Albury police members this week in a bid to force the protesters to move on, but was told there was nothing officers could do unless complaints of intimidation were made.
“Yes, we all know they have a legal right to be there, but do they have a moral right?” he said.
“And the vast majority of the Albury Wodonga community doesn’t think they have a moral right.
“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.
“The whole community is sick of it, they’re legally thumbing their nose at the whole community,” he said.
“They should be protesting somewhere else.”
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.”
NewsWeekly tried to contact several protesters without response.
Peta Evans told NewsWeekly in March the group had no plans to stop and admitted their actions could cause “heartache or difficulties” for women.
Dr Mourik said he accepted the group’s right to protest, but said they should move away from the clinic and stop confronting women.
“How dare they tell women they can’t do something because they don’t believe in it,” he said.
“This has been going on for too long and they’re too comfortable.”
By BLAIR THOMSON
Short URL: http://www.awnw.com.au/?p=21018
Posted by BT
on Aug 2 2012. Filed under Local News.
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Perhaps the protests will stop when the babies are no longer being killed? Seems like a fair offer.
What brave protestors they are, to stand up for women and infants like this.. How dare this man try to stop freedom of speech in Australia?? How dare she think she has a right to change the Aussie way, the right to protest… Good on these good people, who are prepared to take a stand against something that for far too long we have been told to hush up about, by radical feminists, who usually profit from the very lucrative abortion industrry.
So many women are encouraged to abort without ever given the correct help and information, to so often suffer grief, loss etc….. Why Because pro aborts want to see women and babies hurt by abortion so they can profit… Aussie’s have a right to freedom of speech, to protest…That is not going to change by woman..
Nadia Mellor comments “I think with good counselling, most people are able to deal with the decisions they’ve made” (re having an abortion). Firstly, so few of them get “good” counselling – many however get the ‘sales pitch’ that abortion will free them from their pregnant state. Whilst they may indeed be made non-pregnant, they are not returned to their ‘un-pregnant’ state.
What do I mean by that? Though they may no longer have a live preborn baby growing inside them, they are forever changed by an abortion ‘experience’. Their lives become divided into the “Before I had my abortion” chapter and the “After I had my abortion” chapter. You only need to talk to a few of them to know this is true.
I suggest that Nadia reads “Giving Sorrow Words” by Melinda Tankard Reist for starters, to see just how well-placed women are in regards to thinking they will know how they will feel AFTER they have had an abortion, even women who think they have freely ‘chosen’ abortion.
Until after an event, noone can be absolutely sure how they will feel and tragically with abortion, it is always going to be too late.
Research shows many women feel pressured and forced into abortion yet all abortion centers worry about is getting their money for killing human lives. It’s fantastic that there is group advocating the alternatives for these women in need. Questioning the morality of those trying to help by people who are advocating the destruction of human life is ironic tithe upper most degree.
Rape? Incest? Extreme youth? Are these all acceptable circumstances for a baby to be born under? Congenital birth defects, medical complications for the mother… There are any number of reasons why a woman may seek an abortion. Even if her situation is less dire than this it should always be her right to choose. There is ample counselling available; if they want advice they can seek it. If they want the baby, they can keep it! I am offended that (apparently) some people think there is an “abortion industry” where women are coerced into ending their pregnancies for the monetary gain of a group; spectacular claims require spectacular evidence. If your religion or mindset prevents you from getting an abortion, don’t get one; and don’t interfere with the privacy and rights of others. These protesters should be ashamed. I will leave off with a link to an article I found today which frightens me, and I am worried that Australia is headed in the same direction: http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/08/09/kansas-doctor-under-attack-for-not-forcing-ten-year-old-rape-victim-to-give-birth/