Dear Colleague:
The persecution of pro-lifers in the U.K. is intensifying. Peaceful
pro-life activist Edward Atkinson is going to jail for having sent a
picture of an aborted baby to a hospital administrator. He was charged
with--if you can believe it--sending "offensive materials" through the
mails.
PRI Weekly Briefing
30 May 2006
Vol. 8 / No. 20
In the U.K., Aborting a Baby is Legal, but Depicting it is a Crime
By Steven W. Mosher
Our cousins in Great Britain, from whom we inherited a language, a
political culture and, most specifically, the principle of freedom of
speech, are going off the deep end, to judge from the jailing of Edward
Atkinson.
Here's the background. Last year, the U.K. was rocked by a high-profile
abortion case. This was because the demise of "Baby A," as she became
known, was photographed and videotaped. This evidence of her brutal end
was widely distributed in the U.K.
The abortion took place at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kings Lynn,
Norfolk, not far from where Mr. Atkinson lives. This veteran pro-life
campaigner decided to educate the Hospital's chief executive, Ruth May, in
the horrors of such events. He sent copies of the photographs and other
literature to Ms. May.
Upon receiving the pictures, Ruth May complained to the authorities. The
Director of Public Prosecutions, as district attorneys are known in the
U.K., promptly ordered his arrest on the charge of "sending offensive
materials through the mails." The policy then dragged the 75-year-old
Catholic, who is nearly crippled with arthritis, from his home and held
him in prison until his court date.
In court, the hospital staff recounted how the photographs had upset their
delicate sensibilities. Ruth May's secretary, Christine Rogers, said she
was "upset" when she opened the letter from Atkinson containing a picture
of Baby A. The hospital's "Complaints and litigation manager," Karl
Perryman, said that "as a father of two daughters he had been quite
disturbed" by the images he had been shown. Ms. May herself opined that
"It is upsetting for everyone." She went on to say that "I believe people
who work for the National Health Service, and particularly at Queen
Elizabeth Hospital, are passionate about providing excellent care for
their patients."
All except for those they abort, of course. In that case their "passion"
is reserved for those who have the courage to remind them of what they are
doing to tiny babies. Such pricks to their (perhaps guilty) consciences
make them "upset" and "disturbed."
Atkinson himself said that he had sent the images "to educate," adding "I
accept that the documentation was highly distressing. It's horrendous,
monstrous and sickening . but it represents the truth of what is going on
in our world. Everyone in this courtroom knows that abortion is murder and
no one has the guts to say it."
On the basis of the hospital staff's testimony, Mr. Atkinson was convicted
and ordered to serve a month in jail. In sentencing Mr. Atkinson,
District Judge Phillip Brown said "It is clear that you intended to shock
and I am certain that your purpose was to cause distress and anxiety."
Somebody ought to tell the BBC, which specializes in broadcasting shocking
footage from Iraq intended to cause distress and anxiety among the British
public over the British troop deployments there, that these are now
punishable offenses in once jolly olde England.
Mr. Atkinson was also fined 500 English pounds in court costs to be
deducted directly from his pension and given a five-year anti-social
behaviour order. Judge Brown warned that disobeying the order would
result in five years in jail. In that case, the stalwart Mr. Atkinson
replied, "you may as well lock me up and throw away the key."
He has been punished in other ways as well. The Norfolk hospital boss,
Ms. May, struck him off the waiting list for a hip replacement, and now
formally denies him all medical treatment save for life-threatening
illnesses.
All this for having exercised his right to freedom of speech on behalf of
the voiceless unborn.
I have some advice for our English cousins, at least those of the pro-life
variety: someone ought to organize a postcard campaign directed at the
offended hospital staff--whose hospital apparently continues to authorize
abortions, by the way. Let them complain to the police about the
thousands, if not tens of thousands of postcards that they are receiving.
Ms. Ruth May
Chief Executive
Queen Elizabeth Hospital
Gayton Road, Kings Lynn
Norfolk, England
PE30 4ET
Now is the time to stand with Mr. Atkinson. They can't arrest you all.
Steven W. Mosher is President of the Population Research Institute.
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