{"id":200335,"date":"2019-04-19T08:00:06","date_gmt":"2019-04-19T13:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=200335"},"modified":"2019-04-15T15:40:00","modified_gmt":"2019-04-15T20:40:00","slug":"uk-media-truth-abortion-harassment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/uk-media-truth-abortion-harassment\/","title":{"rendered":"Hey, UK media: Offering women the truth about abortion isn’t ‘harassment’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In a stunning example of media bias in the United Kingdom, the Guardian featured an article<\/a> condemning pro-life activists. Pro-lifers are gathering at abortion facilities across England, officially and unofficially, as part of the 40 Days for Life campaign. According to the Guardian, \u201chardline religious activists\u201d are \u201charassing vulnerable women at UK clinics.\u201d<\/p>\n

A look at the article reveals nothing more than a few unsubstantiated allegations of harassment about a peaceful campaign to reach abortion-minded women with options and resources they would not otherwise have. The only verified details of the story suggest that the pro-life activists have in fact been peaceful and the Guardian\u2019s coverage has a significant pro-abortion bias intended to intimidate pro-life sidewalk counselors.<\/p>\n

For starters, the version of the Guardian article posted online<\/a> includes a picture from the abortion facility in Manchester where pro-lifers are allegedly harassing women. The photo of the activists\u2019 activities shows a sign reading, \u201cWe are here to help not to judge\u201d next to flowers and candles. This hardly seems like the environment of hateful harassment that the headline suggests.<\/p>\n

READ:<\/strong> <\/span>Woman who conceived in rape: ‘My baby was part of my healing’<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

The Guardian asserts that pro-life demonstrators are approaching women with \u201cleaflets suggesting that having a termination is harder to deal with than being raped.\u201d This seems disconcerting and was met with outrage by pro-choice politicians. The Guardian quotes<\/a> MP Jess Phillips blasting the pro-lifers, saying, \u201cFor most women, myself included, abortion is not a traumatic incident and to suggest it is harder than being raped suggests that these groups know as much about victims of sexual violence as they know about abortion: nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, the Guardian\u2019s own article demonstrates how deceptive this reporting is. Later in the article, the actual text of the offending leaflet is reproduced showing that pro-lifers are not vindictively inventing comparisons between the trauma of abortion and rape. Instead, the pamphlet includes quotes from post-abortive women about their experiences. One woman said, \u201cFor me, the abortion was harder to get over than the rape.\u201d These are the words of one woman sharing her experience and grief in order to help other women going through similar circumstances.<\/p>\n

Another woman quoted in the pamphlet said, \u201cNo one ever told me I would live with this decision for the rest of my life. It\u2019s been several years but my grief continues.\u201d The Guardian casts doubt on these quotes calling them \u201cpurported.\u201d Yet, there are countless other quotes like these from women who were traumatized by undergoing an abortion<\/a> following rape or living with lifelong regret<\/a> following an abortion decision. This is enough to suggest that the quotes included in the pamphlet are authentic.<\/p>\n

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