Our Lady of the Wayside

Our Lady of the Wayside
Protect Expectant Mothers and Their Babies

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Tuesday 28 November 2017

The Guardian's Shameful Abortion Centre Photo

For years we have had listen to lies from the media, politicians and abortion providers claiming that Pro-Lifers film clients going into abortion centres. Just last month we had staff from the abortion centre in Ealing on National Radio and the local MP, claiming that we live-stream from outside abortion centres. The Guardian have repeated all those claims time and time again. Yet no images of women entering or leaving abortion centres which have been taken by pro-lifers have ever appeared on social media or in the public domain. This is because pro-lifers DON'T photograph or film women entering abortion centres. We are there to offer help to pregnant Mums, it is unlikely that the hundreds of women that stop to talk to us would do so if we were filming.

Then on Sunday 26th November, the Guardian, who claim to be supporting women, published a photo of two women leaving the abortion centre in Ealing. [We have distorted the image above]. A 'pro-choice feminist' group calling itself Sister Supporter have also put up an image of another women attending this abortion centre.

So once again it is clear that the Pro-Lifers are there to help and respect women and the abortion campaigners are not. Please contact The Guardian and ask them to remove or distort the photo and ask them to never take or publish photos of women entering or leaving abortion centres again.

Please come to our vigils to pray and donate to help us support those women who choose life for their children.

Go to our website to see some videos with Mothers that we have been able to help.

Saturday 25 November 2017

Amber Rudd is Welcome to Investigate Our Pro-Life Vigils

The Good Counsel Network welcomes the Home Secretary Amber Rudd's investigation into what happens outside abortion centres. We are proud of our peaceful, prayerful vigils which help hundreds of women to choose life every year. Come and see what we do. And most importantly MS Rudd, come and meet the women we serve. Here, one of them "Isabel" describes what happened when she met Good Counsel outside an abortion centre.


Tuesday 21 November 2017

Good Counsel Writes to Amber Rudd on Buffer Zones

Clare McCullough, Director of The Good Counsel Network has written to the Home Secretary, Amber Rudd in response to the letter she received from Rupa Huq and colleagues about Buffer Zones. You can help hundreds of Mothers to have an alternative to abortion, volunteer to join the Intern Programme . Come to our vigils here and support our work and the Mothers we support here.



15th November 2017



Dear Ms Rudd

I am writing to you in response to the letter of Ms Rupa Huq MP, requesting the implementation of buffer zones outside abortion centres, which was signed by 112 other MPs.

Firstly, I want to say that as the Director of The Good Counsel Network, which is lawfully present outside the Marie Stopes abortion centre in Ealing, we offer each woman entering the abortion centre a leaflet detailing help, support and alternatives to abortion. Hundreds of women have taken up this help and support which has enabled them to choose life for their children. Secondly, a small witness against abortion is held, several yards away from the entrance to the abortion centre. This usually consists of one or two people, occasionally as many as five, standing away from the abortion centre and praying quietly.  

In response to the many false and unevidenced allegations made by Ms Huq and her colleagues, I would like to state categorically that no-one attending our vigils calls women seeking abortion “murderers”.  Nor do we follow them. If these things were occurring at our vigils, which happen every day, there would be ample opportunity to provide proof of it. There is none.

The Good Counsel Network staff and volunteers do not have any graphic pictures of abortion on display whatsoever outside the abortion centre. We show several A4 sized images of the developing baby, which are accurate representations of babies in the womb at different stages. We do not display inaccurate pictures nor do we give women inaccurate medical information. The Good Counsel Network is the main group present at Mattock Lane in Ealing and we are there for about 38 hours per week.

During the many years we have been present outside Marie Stopes Ealing we have frequently met women entering who have stopped to speak to us precisely because they were unsure of their decision, felt under pressure to abort and often had no alternatives to abortion. Some women feel they have to abort to avoid homelessness, abuse, desertion and so on. These women include illegal immigrants, foreign students, trafficked women and a variety of UK residents who had other pressures on them that were not easy to address. Marie Stopes has no alternatives to offer these women.

On one occasion we had to call the police to assist a woman who was phoning us from inside the abortion centre because she did not want to abort, but also did not want to hurt those who had accompanied her. The police had to intervene before this woman managed to escape from the centre via a fire exit. She then took a taxi to our office, where we were able to give her the support she wanted. At no point did the abortion centre staff note that she did not want to go ahead with the abortion.

Miss Huq has repeatedly refused to meet with the many women who have changed their mind about their abortion because we have offered them help and support outside an abortion centre. Yet she and her colleagues feel competent to deny women that opportunity.  Ms Huq and those who co-signed her letter claim to speak on behalf of women, and to “trust women”, but this “trust” does not seem to apply to those women who seek and accept our help, and who, we are repeatedly told, are “not relevant” to this debate.

Marie Stopes International have been found wanting in their assessment of vulnerable women seeking abortion, for whom the proper procedures for obtaining consent and being sure of their personal freedom in choosing abortion, is particularly crucial. In fact, Marie Stopes agreed to suspend any surgical terminations for 10 weeks in 2016, and were prevented from seeing any young or vulnerable women during this period because of these findings. [i]

The CEO of British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), Ann Furedi, stated recently that 15% of women change their mind at BPAS centres every year[ii]. This makes it quite clear that many women have not made up their minds to abort when they arrive at an abortion centre. Countrywide 15% of women entering abortion centres who have doubts equals tens of thousands of women who, if buffer zones are implemented, will not be offered any alternative by abortion centres. Women who are uncertain about going through with an abortion have a right to be provided with alternative support in a peaceful manner.

Our peaceful outreach to women entering abortion facilities is the simple action of offering them a leaflet, which they may choose to accept or not. I ask you to witness the peaceful work of The Good Counsel Network and not to legislate against this activity which has allowed hundreds of women to make a choice to keep their baby which would have been impossible for them otherwise.

Yours sincerely
Clare McCullough

Director, The Good Counsel Network



[i] The CQC report into Marie Stopes activities published 20th December 2016

[ii] Ann Furedi at the Battle of Ideas Sunday 29th October 2017

Wednesday 8 November 2017

Amended!!! 2,674 reasons why BPAS and Marie Stopes need Buffer Zones

1,336 2,257 less abortions
in Ealing and Twickenham Abortion Centres
during 2016 than in 2015.
+ abortions in Birmingham have
dropped by 417.

It's embarrassing! I put this post up on Tuesday morning as "1,336 reasons why BPAS and Marie Stopes need Buffer Zones" stating that abortions at Ealing Marie Stopes and Twickenham BPAS had dropped by 1,336 in total between 2015 and 2016.
Turns out I was so wrong!!!
Then March for Life added on the 417 drop in abortions in the Birmingham area from 2012
figures to 2016 figures.
Then, Justyna, pro-lifer extraordinaire and manager of the Twickenham vigil pointed out that actually my figures were up the creek since I had only included NHS abortions and not the private abortions done in these centres.
 I looked again at the figures and found them as below. Making a total reduction of 2,674 abortions, just from these 3 abortion centres.
So the news is even better!
And it's still true to say:
Wherever there is a full time prayerful presence at an abortion centre, with real help available, abortion figures drop.
This is why abortion providers like Marie Stopes and BPAS want buffer zones

According to department of health statistics,

Marie Stopes Ealing performed 7,459 of abortions in 2015
Marie Stopes Ealing performed 6,484 abortions in 2016
That's a drop of 13%

BPAS Twickenham performed 7,325 abortions in 2015
BPAS Twickenham performed 6043 abortions 2016.
That's a drop of 17.5%

Every life is infinitely precious. Don't let them make us back off! Allow women real options!

Come to our vigils here. Donate to help the Mothers and babies we serve here.
Clare McCullough

Saturday 4 November 2017

She Holds My Heart - Mother thanks YOU for helping her keep her child.

As the plan to decriminalise abortion in any place and at any gestation rumbles on, the one voice that remains unheard is the voice of those who had no choice at all when they "chose" abortion. UK citizens with rights to housing and benefits, or those on comfortable incomes, frequently seem unaware that there are many women for whom abortion is not a choice at all, but the only way out of homelessness, destitution, family breakdown or violence. We don't believe that a woman should have to "choose" abortion in these situations, but rather that we should help her out of the situation, enabling her to make a real heartfelt choice about her child.
'Anna' was in a difficult situation when she found out she was pregnant. Listen to her testimony and find out EXACTLY what Good Counsel does.


To help us support Mothers like Anna, you can donate here . See here for details of how to join us in a prayerful, peaceful vigil at abortion centres in London

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