But What About Abortion In The Case Of Rape?

Many of you who have engaged in conversation with the passers-by at the vigil will have been asked the question, ‘but what about abortion in the case of rape?’ Firstly, we must recognise what a terrible thing it is for a woman to be raped and how she needs to be given all the love and support possible. But these women need real help, not abortion. Rather than helping women who are the victims of such a horrendous crime, the abortion industry seeks to make women yet another victim of their own abortion. One victim of rape asked the doctor, ‘will the abortion undo the rape?’ and he of course had to reply ‘no.’ Not only will the abortion not undo the rape, but it will instead only add another layer of guilt and physical and emotional trauma to the already wounded woman.

Abortion only perpetuates the cycle of violence. The argument for abortion in the case of rape, as with disability, is a direct assault on all those who have been conceived in that way. One such example of this is Rebecca Kiessling who was conceived from a knifepoint attack by a serial rapist. Her mother, afraid of an illegal abortion at the time, decided to carry her to term and put her up for adoption. When Rebecca found out about her violent beginning she spoke out against those who justify abortion in the case of rape. She said, “All those people are out there who don’t even know me, but are standing in judgment of my life, so quick to dismiss it just because of how I was conceived. I felt like I was now going to have to justify my own existence, that I would have to prove myself to the world that I shouldn’t have been aborted and that I was worthy of living” (Rebecca Kiessling). These powerful words of Rebecca remind us that whatever the circumstances of his or her birth, every human being is a unique and unrepeatable gift from God, created in his own image and likeness. Let us remember women like Rebecca who have every much right as we do to be here today, and please come and join us in witnessing to this at our prayerful vigil in Brixton.

Jacinta

The 40 Days for Life Prayer Vigil in Brixton, where we reach out to expectant Mums, will run for 12 hours a day, 8am to 8pm, seven days a week from Ash Wednesday until Palm Sunday. If you could spare an hour or more to come and pray with us, it would be of great help. The vigil takes place at the corner of Brixton Water Lane, London, SW2 5BJ. For more details or to book to attend please contact Gabriella on 07745711064 or 02077231740

For details about 40 Days for Life Prayer Vigils in Reading, Ealing, Southend, Liverpool, Nottingham, Glasgow, Leicester, Bournemouth and Sheffield see here and for the rest of the World see here

Those Helped By Good Counsel Share Their Stories

Some mothers who really were in difficult situations have kept their babies because of the pro-life vigils. 

One story I remember from a few years ago, is of a brave mother who changed her mind during 40 Days. She was living in a tiny one bed flat with her husband and two children and she had a lot of health problems. She also had financial problems because her husband had had to leave work because of her health. As a Christian she was not feeling good about her abortion appointment that day but she got our Good Counsel leaflet from someone outside the abortion centre and came to our centre to get the help she needed instead of going in for the abortion. The lady and her husband are always very grateful for the help received and we are continuing to help them today. The same lady stood up for us against the lies that were told about us to bring in buffer zones. She was a witness with other mothers and told the council how she was glad that we were there for her and for other mothers in difficult situations. 

A few months later her husband happened to be walking passed our vigil one day when someone shouted abuse at us. He politely told them the truth about the help we had given them so they stopped harassing us. 

That reminds me of another time we were at a 40 Days for Life vigil outside the abortion centre and one of the mothers we had helped was praying at the vigil with her child in the pushchair. A couple of young ladies stopped and were shouting at us and seemed very angry that we pro-lifers were there, and they were not in a hurry to go away. The mother who was with me, who had changed her mind about having an abortion years before, came over with her son and started explaining to these women about the help our centre had given her and her child, including help with accommodation, financial help and support and she pointed to her son in the pushchair. They were speechless and dumbfounded and walked away silently. But to my surprise half an hour later they came back and apologised to us and told us that they had changed their minds about us being there altogether!

Lorraine

The 40 Days for Life Prayer Vigil in Brixton, where we reach out to expectant Mums, will run for 12 hours a day, 8am to 8pm, seven days a week from Ash Wednesday until Palm Sunday. If you could spare an hour or more to come and pray with us, it would be of great help. The vigil takes place at the corner of Brixton Water Lane, London, SW2 5BJ. For more details or to book to attend please contact Gabriella on 07745711064 or 02077231740

For details about 40 Days for Life Prayer Vigils in Reading, Ealing, Southend, Liverpool, Nottingham, Glasgow, Leicester, Bournemouth and Sheffield see here and for the rest of the World see here

Valerie Bears Witness to the Truth of Pro-Life Vigils

Today, some leftists in Brixton decided to have a "Defend Abortion Rights" Demonstration to "send the message that shame and intimidation are not welcome in our community". It seems that the groups involved did not read our signs before deciding to take offence, or they would surely have seen that we are only offering alternatives to abortion to those who want them. Furthermore, we are not there to shame or intimidate anyone, and have had many conversations with those who have had abortions, whatever their views, without feeling the need to shame or intimiate anyone. They went on to say in their leaflet that "Reform UK and Nigel Farage are in support of these kind of ['anti-abortion'] campaigns" - another favoured trope of the pro-abortion campaigner that all pro-lifers are racist, anti-immigrant, right wing, gun supporting, vaccine hating blah, blah,blah. 

The truth is far more diverse. The pro-life movement is full of people of all colours and races and every strand of political belief. Many people come into the movement because of their own, or a loved one's abortion and it's aftermath. Many others arrive into the movement after finding that scientifically a newly conceived life can only be a very tiny human - "A person's a person no matter how small" as Dr Seuss tells us!

This group met on the steps of Lambeth Town Hall at midday and they ranted about those anti-choicers up at our vigil. Their demo was about to close when a brave black woman - I'll call her Valerie - stepped forward to speak. She told them that she did not agree with them, that she herself had had two abortions. She said her first abortion when she was only in her teens was in the Brixton abortion centre. She said that she wished the vigil had been there for her, and she might have been able to choose life for her child instead. She described the pain and suffering of having a second abortion, because no-one was there to offer her help or support. They began to respond and tell her she was only 1 person and not everyone felt like her. She refused to be brushed off by this and she said "There are others who feel like I do. You are criticising the people praying up the road, but what can you offer to people like me who are suffering after an abortion? You want me to have abortions and you want to demand my right to abortion, but I have had an abortion and I have the pain and trauma of going through that. What help have you got for me?" Of course the answer is "No help at all". But the protestors did not answer her at all. They began to walk away. When she told them "Abortion kills a child" they told her she was being agressive, and they all left. 

However, after they left, Valerie came up to the Vigil to meet with us, and to recount what had happened. 

While this was going on, up at the vigil, no doubt encouraged by the demo, a local jogger stopped to pointedly spit at our sign which proclaims "Women and children deserve better than abortion" and which bears our helpline number. Meanwhile a passing driver put their hand on the horn for a full minute while waving at us with just one finger. Then a local passing by came up to us with a confused look on his face and said "I've been up the road and down the road and I want to ask, - Why are people giving you such abuse?" - a very good question!

When Valerie arrived, she told us the whole story of what had happened. She too was confused by the fact that her story was of no interest to the self-styled "women's rights advocates". But as someone with a faith in God, she quickly recognised that their movement was all about politics and not about people. As she told them of her sorrow at the loss of her two children, they explained to her that 'there are too many children in the world anyway.' 

She thanked us and asked God to bless us. She said she had prayed about whether to come today, and felt that God wanted her too. She thanked God for sending her a son after she had gone through two abortions and she told us how repentant she felt about them. And before she left us, she encouraged us to keep praying, and she said "I've got your back!"

It's not easy being at a vigil. I take my hat off to the vigil volunteers who are there daily or several times a week and put up with all kinds of abuse from passers by. But on the worst of days, we need to remember the many "Valeries" out there, not all as brave as today's Valerie, and not all willing to speak up, but those who pass by quietly and offer a prayer in their hearts for lost children and those who try to reach out and help Mothers.

Clare

The Prayer Vigil in Brixton will run for 12 hours a day, 8am to 8pm, seven days a week from Ash Wednesday until Palm Sunday. If you could spare an hour or more to come and pray with us, it would be of great help. The vigil takes place at the corner of Brixton Water Lane, London, SW2 5BJ. For more details or to book to attend please contact Gabriella on 07745711064 or 02077231740

For details about 40 Days for Life Prayer Vigils in Reading, Ealing, Southend, Liverpool, Nottingham, Glasgow, Leicester, Bournemouth and Sheffield see here and for the rest of the World see here

PLEASE DONATE TO SUPPORT OUR WORK AND THE MOTHERS AND BABIES IN MOST NEED

Donate by Bank Transfer to:

The Guild of Our Lady of Good Counsel

Sort Code: 40-06-30                          

Account Number: 13994678

By Credit Card over the phone:

Call 0207-723-1740

Monday to Friday, 10.30-6pm

Via Paypal: Paypal.me/SaveLivesGCN

"When I attended the 40 Days for Life Prayer Vigil in Brixton..."

When I attended the 40 Days for Life Prayer Vigil in Brixton last Sunday morning I was struck by the peace and quiet there compared to other days. People trudged past with their shopping or ran past on their morning exercise. I thought to myself that people seemed so oblivious to the evil of the place just up the road from them, the abortion centre. If only our society realised that there are 277,970 babies missing in England and Wales from 2023 alone, 277,970 mothers hurt by abortion. What a different place the world would be if people only realised the humanity of the unborn. That’s 277,970 reasons for you to come join our 40 Days for Life Prayer Vigil in Brixton!

Help us to raise awareness about the greatest evil of our time by joining us. Imagine being at a vigil and then hearing from a mother who received help to keep her baby because of people at such a vigil offering help and support. The Prayer Vigil in Brixton will run for 12 hours a day, 8am to 8pm, seven days a week from Ash Wednesday until Palm Sunday. If you could spare an hour or more to come and pray with us, it would be of great help. The vigil takes place at the corner of Brixton Water Lane, London, SW2 5BJ. For more details or to book to attend please contact Gabriella on 07745711064 or 02077231740

For details about 40 Days for Life Prayer Vigils in Reading, Ealing, Southend, Liverpool, Nottingham, Glasgow, Leicester, Bournemouth and Sheffield see here and for the rest of the World see here.

Did you just phone to book to attend? Or did you click on one of those links to see which vigil you will attend? No? Please do, you may make all of the difference.

1 Year on - The Babies that Beat the Ban on Help for Expectant Mums!

Last year on the Eve of All Hallows, 31st October, the Government brought the National Buffer Zone into law, meaning pro-life people have to stay 150 metres from the door of an abortion centre when they offer help and support and alternatives to abortion to the women entering the abortion centre.

Of course keeping us for far from the entrance means many women will never get to see us at all, or hear about the alternatives and support we are offering.

The Government and many abortion campaigners think this is a good thing, because they don’t believe we have any real help to offer, they don’t want to speak to the women who have accepted our help and they largely don’t believe that women get coerced into an abortion by their circumstances and by people around them.

Last year before the buffer zone came into effect we met Elizabeth, Mary, Emma, Thalita and Gianna in Brixton, Rosie, Clara, Jade, Jenny, Karly, Annette, Mandy, Rhonda and Pat in Ealing and Prudence and Caroline in Central London at our vigils. Of these women the outcomes were as follows, 12 of their babies have been born, 1 was miscarried, 2 moved abroad and continued their pregnancies and 1 aborted.

We also had requests for support in difficult pregnancies from 4 women who reached us through other women who had received our help leaflets at the door of an abortion centre in the past. Maria, Tammy, Monique and Geraldine all chose to continue their pregnancies and have had their babies now. And finally, we also had a number of women who were past the time limit for an abortion who still needed some help and advice and some baby items which we were able to help them with.

Since 31st October 2024, women like these have a far lower chance of finding us. But we are still praying and offering help. Please pray for women considering abortion. And please join us at the edge of the buffer zone. Find out more at www.goodcounselnetwork.com or email us at info@goodcounselnetwork.com

Mercy’s Pregnancy Choice

Mercy is a young African mum who approached us for help last year.

She came to the UK to live with family members and help in their house, as well as to study. When her aunt became terminally ill, she was left alone in the UK. Mercy is a quiet and inexperienced young woman and was easily taken in by a man she met online who then started to date her.

He encouraged her to think he wanted to marry her and settle down.

She became pregnant after a few months and he suddenly told her he did not want her to have the baby. He started pushing abortion all the time and tried to blackmail her into having it done.

Finally, he told her he was already married with children and he would not support her if she had this child.

He changed his phone number, closed all his online accounts and disappeared.

Alone in a country she doesn’t know too well, and abandoned by the baby’s father, Mercy could have easily gone for an abortion, but she decided that she wanted to do the right thing for her baby and respect his or her life.

Luckily, she found Good Counsel, and we have been able to give little bits of support, helping her to keep her accommodation and also providing baby clothes and goods.

Mercy’s daughter was born this spring and has brought her great joy.

Please pray for her as she breaks the news to her family.                                                                  Clare

Even in these difficult times we have been blessed to keep assisting Mothers who would have an abortion without support.

There are many Mothers who we are currently helping with rent, with food and with basic living costs. During the summer holidays donations usually drop considerably but Mums and babies still need help with the necessities of life.

Donate To Support Our Work

 

Bank Details

Name: The Guild of Our Lady of Good Counsel

Sort Code: 40-06-30

Account Number: 13994678

 

By Credit Card over the phone:

Call 0207-723-1740 Monday to Friday, 10.30-6pm

 

Paypal.me/SaveLivesGCN

BBC Live from an abortuary & the women they don't want to speak to

One that got away - A Baby Whose Mum Chose Life after Visiting an Abortuary
You will probably have heard by now about this programme at 10am today on BBC Radio 5 Live;

"Victoria [Derbyshire] speaks to doctors, nurses and patients live from an abortion clinic [sic].

It is hard to believe that this will be anything other than a bit of pro-death propaganda. No doubt some of the tragedy of abortion may come through, but it will be presented as a necessary evil, and a better option than raising a child in difficult circumstances - ultimately a good thing for society, but hard. That's our bet anyway. If you are listening-in, please don't hesitate to give some feedback to provide balance. The details are:

Call 0500 909693 [free from most landlines; other networks may vary]. Text:
85058 [standard message rate]. Email: Victoria@bbc.co.uk. Twitter: @vicderbyshire.

If you would like to hear the other side of the story, the real help that women need, and what it is like for a woman who changes her mind at the abortuary doorstep, or what it is like for those who go through the abortion because they have no other choice, or if you want to hear from someone who spends her life providing real help to women in crisis pregnancies, read on. Robert Colquhoun of 40 Days for Life, has interviewed 4 such women at the Good Counsel Centre.

Here are interviews with two women who turned around on the doorsteps of the abortuary, because Catholics were there to offer them help, when both felt had that they had no choice. http://www.divshare.com/download/17571772-a3d (10 minutes) & http://www.divshare.com/download/17571864-4dc (20 minutes)

This third women has had an abortion and needs her vioce to be heard. Please send this link to everyone you know; http://www.divshare.com/download/17571931-cd3 (20 minutes)
Finally here is Ronni a volunteer with Good Counsel; http://www.divshare.com/download/17571913-6ce (11 minutes)

To give Mums-to-be a real chioce involves a lot of time, money and prayer, - we don't have enough of any of these to help all the turnarounds currently needing our help - if we all do our bit to help, even more lives will be saved. Please spread the word.

Clare and Stuart McCullough

Photo Of An Aborted Baby Saves A Life

I was counselling a pregnant married muslim Mother a few days ago. She already has a number of young children and has just moved house and felt that she could not cope with another baby just yet. I explained about the development of her child, its heart had started to beat between day 18 & 21, she could see the fingers and the eyes in the nice picture that I showed her. We talked about what abortion would do to the baby and I showed her a beautiful photo of a baby at 8 weeks before and after abortion. We talked about the medical risks to her health & we talked a bit about God, but she interrupted me at that point to say, "I changed my mind when you showed me the photo" and she pointed at the not very nice before and after photo (now face down on the table) . We then spent some time talking about all the help we could give her.
It is important to use graphic abortion photos, along with all the other means at our disposal, to help women avoid abortion.

But I know as well that it is important not to become too fixed on the idea that just one pro-life solution (such as showing graphic pictures of aborted babies) is the only thing that works; I have seen many women who have seen what abortion really involves, but have still gone ahead and had one anyway.

I have seen women keep their baby after seeing the 'nice' baby photos.

Often solving a real practical problem such as housing, or help with immigration issues etc, will save the baby's life.

Most often God is clearly the one who changes the heart and mind of the woman, via all the above-mentioned information.

So please Pray & Fast for the end of abortion. To see what abortion really looks like (WARNING it is not nice) click here.

Stuart McCullough

Depressed and Despairing Expectant Mothers Can Have Happy Well-Balanced Children.

I know, both as a Mother and as a counsellor, that pregnancy does strange things to a woman, both to her mind and her heart, as well as to her body! Women who have been desperate to have a child can become numb, terrified or suddenly determined never to have a child upon finding themselves pregnant. Depression, despair, fear, disgust, feelings of alienation from one's "normal" pre-pregnant self as well as from the baby are not unusual occurences.

This doesn't happen to everyone, but it is a familiar experience to a number of women.

The women who cope best in the face of this often unforseen attack are those who know their own values and beliefs well and who hold fast to them despite the storm of emotion and irrational thoughts they are sucked in to. Those who don't have strong beliefs and values about the sanctity of life may fall at the first fence, believing their distress is a sign that they won't be happy with this baby.

Yet those who continue the pregnancy of an "unwanted baby", in virtually every case, go on to have and to hold a much loved and wanted child. Whereas those who abort carry that devastating decision in their heart like broken glass forever. And to their great distress, they suddenly find that the baby they thought they didn't want and hadn't bonded with must now be grieved and loved, named and remembered if they are to have any peace. And the taking of his or her life must be repented of.

The abortionists know about this time of confusion, hence the constant push for earlier and earlier abortion methods.

We as pro-lifers must be careful that we don't make the women who go through this despair and depression and feelings of not wanting or not loving the child, feel that they have irrevocably damaged their child. With repentence of heart much human error can be undone. And many a once supposed unwanted or unloved unborn baby becomes a happy, well-formed and deeply loved child.

Does a child in a Mother's arms always experience her sorrow, or fear, or depression? And even if they do, do they not still feel secure and loved just by being held in the Mother's arms? Surely this is why God in His Wisdom surrounded the unborn child with the actual flesh and blood of his/her family and buried the growing child just beneath the Mother's heart? So that regardless of the tempest of mental, psychological and physical craziness that can happen to an expectant Mum, there is the security of the tight embrace of the womb.

In the words of two of our "clients":

Rachael: I think my baby will be damaged because I have been so worried, so unsure that I want him, so depressed. I have had no time for him.

Mary: No I thought that about my child too but it's not true. She is always smiling, always happy. People ask me why she is always so happy. And I tell them, I cried so much during my pregnancy that she never wants to cry again! I had all that sorrow so that she could be happy!

Clare McCullough

Brave Women Deserving Our Admiration

‘Look at the birds in the sky. They do not sew or reap or gather into barns: Yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they are?’ Matthew 6:26.

How many of us have to literally put these words into practice? How many of us are so destitute that we have to put total trust in our Creator to provide for our most basic needs - a roof over our heads and some food to eat.

One of the many reasons I admire the women I see is that in order to allow their babies to live they have to take a giant leap of faith. Faith that God will provide, through us. Faith that our benefactors will give us the financial support to enable that to happen.

'No one is really poor in this country. They can get housing, benefits etc' I hear some of you say.

Any professional person who works with young families will tell you that those who truly survive on benefits find it very difficult to do so. It only needs a broken washing machine, children who need new shoes, a family funeral to plunge that family into financial crisis often further exacerbated if they borrow from loan sharks charging high levels of interest. The hardship these people endure was vividly illustrated on television recently when some MPs tried to live on income support levels for a week or so and failed miserably.

But those who qualify for benefits at least get the minimum to survive.

Many of the women who approach us for help do not have any access to public funds and they are literally destitute. They have no money, no home, NOTHING.

Do I hear you say, ‘Why are they having babies then?’ ?

It takes a male, a female and God to create a baby! It shocks me that so many of the women we see have been abandoned by the baby’s father - usually after he has first tried to force the woman to have an abortion. The baby is generally conceived due to failed contraception and within a relationship where the woman thinks the man is committed. The women are very hurt, shocked and traumatised when they approach us for help. Most of these relationships have been going on from several months to three years, or even five years.

The women quickly find themselves alone. Their friends and the professionals they approach encourage abortion, offer no help and abandon them as irresponsible for not availing of what they see as a perfect solution. Several women have told me how shocked they were to be offered abortion immediately when they informed their GP that they were pregnant. They are disowned by their families and communities who see the pregnancy as a disgrace even in these liberal times. These same families and communities including sadly some religious communities would much prefer that they murder the baby, a hidden crime which won’t affect them so they can hold their head high, while the unfortunate woman has to deal alone with all the trauma and damage that killing her own baby will cause her in the future. These women are often castigated within our society.

Of course it would be best if they were married, to men who respected, valued, and loved them and who treated them not as sex objects to be discarded like rubbish when the time comes for sacrifice and commitment but as equal and valued partners within marriage.

Admire these brave women, and while you do so, contemplate on our society where life is not valued and where our young men are depriving themselves of the most precious gift of their own son or daughter.

Where is all this going to end and is there anything we can do to stop the tide of abortion?

Ronni O' Gara