Your Presence at the 40 Days for Life Pro-Life Vigil Matters!

This Lent we have a 40 Days for Life campaign in Brixton, London. 40 Days for Life is a global movement to end abortion through prayer, fasting and peaceful prayer vigils for 40 days held outside or near abortion clinics. At these vigils at least two people will always attend; one hands out leaflets offering help to mothers while the other prays. People unite all over the world in prayer during this time and countless lives are saved. With the current number of abortions sky high, it is time for us all to take action and be involved in the end of abortion in this country and the whole world. Attending a prayer vigil is a public witness to show we believe every human life has value.

Who knows, you may be the reason a mother chooses life for her baby; your presence matters more than you may ever see.

Just remember you are not alone. People are attending 40 Days for Life vigils worldwide and we are united to them in prayer. It is not meant to be easy, but we do it for the unborn babies, mothers and fathers. Let us ask God to close the abortion clinic in Brixton this Lent, for with God nothing is impossible - Luke 1:37.

The vigil in Brixton will run for 12 hours a day, 8am until 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 a great help. The vigil takes place at the corner of Brixton Hill and Brixton Water Lane, London, SW2 5BJ. For more details or to book to attend please call Gabriella on 07745711064 or 02077231740

[Photo of Bishop David Waller leading the prayers on Shrove Tuesday]

Rose

Ending Abortion with the Rosary!

At the end of October, we mark the Anniversary of the National Buffer Zone which came into effect on the 31^st October 2024, and which bans prayer and offers of help or support to expectant mothers within 150 metres of every abortion centre. Although we have had to move  down the road, we are still there seeing women who turnaround and need your prayers and financial support.

October is also the month of the Rosary, and as we move on towards the end of the year, we are asking all our supporters to deepen their devotion to the Rosary, to pray it daily for the end of abortion as well as for each and every Mother who considers abortion to choose life. Here are some of the reasons why we think it matters.

A Way to End Abortion: The Rosary

“Oh no not the Rosary!” – the inward, or sometimes outward, groan of children – and, sad to say, adults, for many generations.

How can it be that a prayer so beloved of our Blessed Mother, which honours her and causes us to dwell on the events of her son’s life can be found so burdensome, boring, hard to concentrate on and dry? The Rosary takes us on a pilgrimage through the earthly life and the glorious deaths of Jesus and Mary, in joy and in sorrow, with Jesus as the Light of the world and as its glorious Redeemer. The outward words spoken in the Our Father, the Hail Mary and the Glory be echoing the words of Holy Scripture – the voice of the Holy Spirit – as we strive to focus our minds and hearts on the Mysteries.

St Louis Marie de Montfort wrote of the Rosary, ‘If you say the Rosary faithfully until death, I do assure you that, in spite of the gravity of your sins, you shall receive a never fading crown of glory. For even if you are now on the brink of damnation, even if you have one foot in hell, even if you have sold your soul to the devil…sooner or later you will be converted and will amend your life and save your soul. If–you say the Rosary devoutly every day of your life.’

Miracles of the Rosary

In the year 1214, Our Lady appeared to Saint Dominic, giving him her Holy Rosary. Through the Rosary, the Albigensian heresy was completely defeated, and the heretics returned back to the fold of the Church.

In 1571 all of Christian Europe was saved from the threat of a Turkish invasion at the Battle of Lepanto. Pope Saint Pius V, the reigning Pontiff at that time, implored all of Catholic Europe to pray the rosary. It was prayed continually, round the clock. The Catholic forces in that battle were greatly outnumbered but the Turkish invaders were soundly defeated. The Holy Father referred to it as a great Rosary Victory. Pope Saint Pius V proclaimed October 7, as the feast of the Holy Rosary.

In 1683, the Turkish forces again threatened to overrun Europe. As the army of King John of Poland marched to Vienna they prayed the rosary. Catholic Europe was once again saved from the threat of a Turkish invasion. The date of that battle was September 12, 1683 - the feast of the Holy name of Mary.

Various Rosary Campaigns in History and Their Outcomes

Fr. Peter Pavlicek, organized a Rosary crusade in Austria in 1948. Fr. Peter asked for a “tithe” of Rosaries; he asked that ten percent of all Austrians pledge to say the Rosary daily until the Soviets left the country. The people of Austria responded generously. They prayed for seven years, and then on May 13, Feast of Our Lady of Fatima, 1955, the Soviets mysteriously just packed up and peacefully left.

Brazil was spared a communist dictatorship in the 1960’s through a Rosary Campaign led by a Dona Amelia Basto. Something similar happened in Portugal in 1975.

On March 25, 1984, Pope John Paul II called for a Rosary crusade because of the grave danger to world peace at that time. In response to his request, a major "Rosaries for peace" crusade was launched by the Blue Army and other Marian organizations. There was a magnificent response. And on May 13, 1984, one of the largest crowds in Fatima’s history gathered at the shrine to pray the Rosary for peace. And that very day an explosion at the Soviets’ Severomorsk Naval Base destroyed two-thirds of all the missiles stockpiled for the Soviets’ Northern Fleet. Western military experts called it the worst naval disaster the Soviet Navy had suffered since WWII. Four years later during the night of May 12, 1988, as thousands prayed the Rosary at Fatima, another mysterious explosion wrecked the only factory that made the rocket motors for the Soviets’ deadly SS 24 long-range missiles, which carry ten nuclear bombs each.

Archbishop Fulton Sheen was once asked to describe the power of the rosary. "Describe the power of the rosary, there are just no words to describe the power of the rosary!" He went on to further state, "The trouble with the world today is that there are not enough rosaries being prayed!"

In 2004 A group of pro-life pregnancy centres in Austria were engaged in praying the Rosary for some years, both outside abortion centres and in front of the Blessed Sacrament. 3 abortion centres closed in Austria, one of which the pro-lifers then bought and used as a centre for post-abortion healing. When asked how these abortuaries had come to close the Director of the pro-life centres stated “By the power of the Rosary”.

Save Yourself and Save the World!

There are many things which are powerful and necessary for us as Catholics, especially the Holy Mass, the Source and Summit of our faith. But the Rosary is a simple everyday meditation on the life of Our Lord, accompanying Our Lady, and we have been requested to say it by Our Lady repeatedly, and by many Popes. If there was ever a time to take up the Rosary with your whole heart it is now, as threats of abortion up to birth and euthanasia are so close to becoming law.

Please consider joining our once-a-month Rosary Rota if you haven’t already email us at info@goodcounselnetwork.com

Pope Paul VI said, "Do you know what the world needs today? Saints! Thousands upon tens of thousands of Saints!". We can be the saints that Pope Paul VI said the world needed. We are the people who have to take our rosaries in your hands and start praying. Until we have thousands upon tens of thousands of people praying the rosary, we are not going to have those Saints and nor are we going to defeat the culture of death.

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

Or send a cheque payable to, The Guild of Our Lady of Good Counsel and post it to PO Box 46679, London, England, NW9 8ZT.

Clare McCullough

We have Marched for Life and now Richard will Run for Life

On Saturday 6^th September over ten thousand Pro-Lifers joined the March for Life in London. You can read a report here.

Now Richard Keane, a former Good Counsel intern, will run a half marathon to help raise funds for our life saving work. Here is what Richard had to say in a talk he gave in his local Parish, please read what he said and then support our work and his efforts.

“I'm running the Potters Half Marathon to raise £2,000 for the Good Counsel, a remarkable Pro-Life organisation where I was proud to intern. 

For over 28 years, the Good Counsel Network has provided life- changing support to mothers and families in vulnerable situations- offering compassionate counselling, practical financial and housing aid, spiritual care through Masses, and even essential baby items to help mothers choose life.

Their work has helped save over 4,000 babies, and every donation goes directly to helping their mission. Walking alongside women in crisis with love and dignity, the Good Counsel Network offers a beacon of hope where it's needed most.

I spent nearly eight months as an intern for the Good Counsel Network, finishing in May this year. During that time, I witnessed the incredible efforts that staff and volunteers go to fulfil their mission, and I had the privilege of being involved in the day to day running of the Good Counsel. I prayed outside abortion centres, offering leaflets to passers-by, with a particular focus on vulnerable mothers. I also offered counsel to these mothers and their families during sessions in the Good Counsel office. As I mentioned before, they provide practical, as well as psychological and spiritual help.”

You can sponsor Richard here. Or donate using one of the following options,

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

52 Years of Abortion

Sunday 26^th April is the Feast of Our Lady, Mother of Good Counsel, which is the 52^nd anniversary of the last day in Britain when it was illegal to perform abortions. Please say the prayer to Our Lady, Mother of Good Counsel, on this her Feast day: http://www.goodcounselnet.co.uk/Our-Patron-Saints.html  or see below.

 

Monday 27^th April, is the 52^nd anniversary of the abortion act coming in to effect. Since then, over 9 million babies have been aborted in the United Kingdom. Please join us that day in praying and fasting* for the end of abortion in this Country. Normally thousands of people would hear about our National Days of Prayer and Fasting for Life through their Parishes, with notices and posters. Sadly at this time, this will not happen, would you therefore please forward this email to family and friends and go onto the Facebook event and click Going and then click Share and then use the Invite option to invite others. Thank you. https://www.facebook.com/events/3035268766567721/

The March for Life have said, "27th April marks the very sad anniversary of the abortion act UK. When you go out for your exercise be a prolife witness by wearing a pro-life t-shirt!"

 

And SPUC, who would normally have thier Pro-Life Chains this weekend have also called for a day of prayer on Monday.

Prayer to Our Lady, Mother of Good Counsel:

O, Holy Virgin, to whose feet we are led by our anxious uncertainty in our search for and attainment of what is true and good, invoking thee by the sweet title of Mother of Good Counsel we beseech thee to come to our assistance, when along the road of this life, the darkness of error and of evil conspires towards our ruin by leading our minds and our hearts astray.

Do Thou, O Seat of Wisdom and Star of the Sea, Enlighten the doubtful and the erring, that they be not seduced by the false appearances of good, render them steadfast in the face of the hostile and corrupting influences of passion and of sin.

O Mother of Good Counsel, obtain for us from Thy Divine Son a great love of Virtue and, in the hour of uncertainty and trial, the strength to embrace the way that leads to our salvation. If Thy hand sustains us, we shall walk unmolested long the path indicated to us by the life and words of Jesus our Redeemer; and having followed freely and securely, even in the midst of this world's strife, the sun of truth and justice under Thy Maternal Star, we shall come to the enjoyment of full and eternal peace with Thee in the Haven of Salvation. Amen.

*As we are in the Easter Season please limit your fasting to some small sacrifice.

Richmond Mother says "If GCN can’t stand by the gate, it means you put vulnerable mothers in danger"

On Wednesday night, Richmond Council's Regulatory Committee voted to recommend to the Council that a PSPO (Buffer Zone) be brought in around Richmond's BPAS abortion centre.
As part of the consultation process BPAS had over 300 testimonies from women saying our presence distressed them in the space of just one month. 323 testimonies in fact.

In fact the BPAS centre is a very busy abortion centre and during the Consultation, there was clearly an effort made to ask clients entering the centre how the vigil (BPAS would say "protest") made women feel. Fair enough.

And how did the women feel? The comments they include in their report are as follows.
"Standing outside and opposite the clinic - handing out flyers and also had more posters beside them. [It made me feel] embarrassed and as if going into a clinic was almost evil - as if we were taking a life." 

"[The protestors were]influencing our decision that we already had a hard time going through. [They made me feel] like we were doing something wrong, angry, every situation is different."

There are many more such testimonies, and I have left out several that accuse us of harassing and following women and telling both clients and staff that they are baby murderers and that they are going to hell. No-one at the vigil does these things, but I can't expect people to believe me in the face of overwhelming testimony to the contrary. So don't believe me. Go to a vigil, unannounced, unexpected. Don't turn up to bait people or to accept my view. Go quietly and see what the vigil does. For yourself. Any time you like.

But to get back to the comments above, I understand that women going through a traumatic moment, like abortion certainly is, would rather not have to see the mildest of placards (see picture above of what the placards at the vigil in Richmond consist of), or even have a person praying outside or offering a leaflet. Even though, as you can see from the two comments I have included behaviours such as offering a leaflet or just being present - which are neither frowned on by law, nor intended to cause any distress at all - can be difficult on such a difficult day. Yes, even though we try to be unoffensive and unobtrusive, we understand many women would rather we were not there.

So why are we there? Because despite the words of several Richmond Councillors tonight, we still see dozens and dozens and dozens of women entering Richmond who have - and are offered - no alternatives to abortion. I have spoken many times about those groups of women who cannot access services like refuges, housing, benefits, safe houses, even social services. And no amount of pretending that BPAS refer these women to such places means that they can get help from them. You can help those mothers.

Devi's mum, Sara, one of 7 who shared their stories with Richmond Council, said Richmond BPAS  didn’t speak 2 words to her in the clinic about alternatives to abortion. "They just filled a form and do a blood test then procedure starts." She chose life instead, because Good Counsel were there 

to offer an alternative when she was entering BPAS.

7 of these very women - excluded from much of this help - gave their testimonies to Richmond Council. Those testimonies were distributed on Wednesday evening to Richmond Regulatory Committee members, at the start of the meeting, it was more than clear that they had no chance at all to read them before the vote.

Here is one of them.

Ilda's Story

I found out I was pregnant, I booked an appointment to, terminate, in the clinic. And so I met Good Counsel Network by the gate and we started talking. No one said that I need to, I have to or I should, do anything. It was just an offer and I accepted it.  I believe if the person from the Good Counsel Network wasn't there, a person, it wouldn't have made any difference whatsoever, I would not have felt able to keep my baby if I had just been given a leaflet – I needed to meet someone there who I could speak to about the help. 

I heard someone say some people are offended by GCN?

We need to think of this in two ways, if there is offence – if you're offending me, you need to be doing something that I don't want you to, and you keep pushing me. But an offer is different. I can offer you something, and you can say 'No, I'm sorry, 'I'm fine'. Then OK, this is an offer, but causing offence is completely different. This is a very emotional time for every woman. If you go to an abortion clinic, you go there because you have no choice. You know, we all have different problems, we all have different reasons, especially if you look at me, I'm like this (pregnant) and I don't have a partner, and not having a partner is not a big problem, but a violent partner, that’s a different thing! So it’s nice that when you feel you have to make a choice that you don't want to make and you don't know where to turn to and get some help. -If someone, was telling me, actually there is help, there is an offer, would you like to take it? When I was ready to go into the clinic and I was crying, this is so important!

I think we need to ignore, the fact that sometimes, even when you do good things, some people might get offended for some reason, we can't make everything right for everyone. The important thing, when you put it in balance, which one is important? The unborn child's future, and mother's future, or some people, they might have some experiences, or they can get offended for no reason. I think we need to keep the balance, sometimes I think we just need to ignore when people get offended, because the important thing is the Mother and her unborn baby's future. It's more important than those people's feelings. I think it is more important.

Because I wouldn't be pregnant at the moment if Good Counsel didn't give me the leaflet and if they didn't say “Hi”, because there was no other option in my mind. Without that, keeping the baby wasn't going to happen. So sometimes, just a smiley face, 'Hi, hello!' You know, shaking your hands and showing you that there are good people out there, but they genuinely care about people, and babies. It's important, babies still in the mummy's tummy, you know they have no choice, they didn't choose to be there. And at the same time they don't choose to die as well. Just give unborn babies a life, a chance. Just an offer. No one is pushing anyone, no one is offending anyone, it's just an offer. I think we all need an offer but it is up to you to accept it or reject it.

Here some people are just nicely standing by the doors just to give a leaflet, I don’t use rude words, but I think what I am going to say is going to fit perfectly, do people need to kill their babies in order to make other people comfortable? It’s a very big question.

I think after this meeting you have to be very careful...honestly, you cannot receive that kind of support anywhere else. So if the people from GCN can’t stand by the gate, it means you put vulnerable women, mothers, human beings, in danger. Because I have been there by myself. In my experience I have even been to a woman’s refuge and I have been “let go”, left on the road, with no money, with nothing. So these pro-life people need to be standing there outside the abortion clinics. I have never received such support – when you go to some places, -they say - we are here for you, we are here to support you, they always start like that. But everything is just on paper or it’s just what they say. Others say that they will support but you get nothing. But here with GCN it’s not like you get your baby and you are on your own after that – this is very important. They are there from the beginning until you are ready to stand on your own two feet – what is wrong with that? I really believe if I had met them years ago, my life would have been different. Honestly.

This is nothing to do with “offensive”, [banning] this is not right on a human level, it’s not right. You want me to kill my baby so that you can feel relaxed? – I think this question finishes everything.

[Short videos with some of the other mums that we have helped can be seen here.]

Clare's Speech to Thousands of Pro-Lifers at Parliament Square

“Over 9 Million abortions! What a travesty. What a total assault on children, on their Mothers and on their fathers too. A total assault on our society. How do I begin to speak in the face of 9 million abortions? I cannot even comprehend that number. I cannot begin to comprehend it.

What are we to do? We stand here today as a tiny witness to this awful assault on life and we look around the broken society we live in. We look to the future and we see the threat of nationwide Buffer Zones, of women being sent home to take their abortion pills alone in their bedrooms crying into their pillows so that society is not troubled by their cry. We see the total decriminalisation of abortion – which really means the total deregulation of abortion, where even the shards of the laws designed to protect Mothers and babies are smashed out of the frame to allow the abortion industry a free reign. We see Nurses and Doctors’ freedom of conscience to refuse to participate in abortion being eroded, just like the children that are screened out by abortion.

I work for a group that has the dubious honour of having the first Buffer Zone imposed on our vigil. And I can tell you that standing away from the abortion centre, knowing that some women are entering because they have no other choice – knowing this not because it suits us to think so, but because hundreds and hundreds of women have told us this in the last 20 years - but being forced to not offer them any alternative at all is a particular form of suffering that our staff and volunteers are having to endure.

And yet through the other vigils we are at and through the work of our Counselling Centre, we see many, many women seeking help to avoid abortions they feel coerced into having.

This isn’t every woman’s story. There are plenty of women who choose abortion themselves. We pray for them. But their story does not negate the story of those with little or no choice.

In Ealing today it is illegal for me to stand within 100 metres of the abortion centre and offer a woman a leaflet even if it only provided a list of help that was available to the woman if she kept the baby and nothing else.

There on Mattock Lane, outside Marie Stopes, where a woman bled to death in a taxi after being sent away with a bleeding torn womb, we cannot even say a prayer.

I have spoken repeatedly about those who are not entitled to state benefits or housing – large numbers of these women are brought to the abortion centre by circumstances beyond their control and the abortion centre has nothing to offer them but abortion. We are there for them, with housing and financial help and moral and practical support. But there are others too, large numbers of women having abortions for someone else – usually a partner who is not ready, or who is not interested, sometimes mum and dad who just won’t understand. There are women having an abortion today because their contraception let them down and it just seems the worst of times to have a child.

For these women, love and support, real help that allows them to continue with their plans and yet not have to have an abortion, is a totally pro-choice – in the truest sense of the word – offer.

And yet this is now seen as the most offensive thing we can do.

Abortion advocates claim that abortion has few, minor health risks, but the same people claim that being approached politely and offered a leaflet or even just knowing that someone is praying for you outside an abortion centre can cause you post-traumatic stress disorder.

Several years ago we were contacted by a young woman who had been raped. She came to us really conflicted about what to do and she was in so much pressure to have an abortion. So many women we have seen who have been raped have been told by those around them to have an abortion and told, ‘if you keep this baby, I don’t believe you were raped’, and even the police have told them on a number of occasions "If you keep this baby were not going to prosecute the rapist" That’s actual testimony from many women we have seen. This young woman was really, really confused. She had a husband back home in her own country. She wasn’t sure that he would accept this child. She just felt she just couldn’t possibly go ahead. She had a couple of daughters and she always wanted a little boy and she wanted to call him Martin. She had never had her little boy and now she was in this situation. With lots of support and prayer and real help and a place to hide and all kinds of support to give her different options as to what to do when the baby was born she decided to go ahead with her decision to continue the pregnancy. When the baby was born she decided to she was going to give him up for adoption. Her little boy was born on the Feast of Saint Martin and she called him Martin. She struggled for a few weeks about what to do and finally she went to an adoption agency signed all the papers to hand Martin over for adoption, and went home. Except she didn’t go home, the adoption agency had closed and she sat on the steps of the adoption agency until the morning when she could take back the papers and take back her son. With God's Grace her husband had accepted what had happened and accepted her decision to keep her baby and she returned home and brought her baby back to her family. This is what can happen when a woman has love, unconditional support, a place to hide, practical help, all the support you would give to your sister, you know like sister supporters do if you could. That is exactly what we are all called to do. It’s not just something for Good Counsel or 40 Days or any of the groups who pray and witness for Life. You know it’s something all of us are called to do to offer that love and support to those in need.

In 20 years, I have not yet met a woman who had from her early childhood wanted or planned an abortion. No-one wants to have to have an abortion. When women speak of wanting to have an abortion they are of course really meaning that they desperately DON’T want to have the baby. If they could be suddenly “unpregnant”, this would seem to be the solution. Unfortunately, the only way to make a pregnant woman “unpregnant” is to deliver her baby, dead or alive. Either one of those choices is going to have consequences for the woman.

If you understand what science clearly shows – that a little unborn human at 3 weeks of pregnancy has a beating heart. That at 7 weeks, brainwaves can be clearly picked up showing what we would call thought. That by 7 weeks, the enlarged ultrasound scan can show a tiny baby clearly moving in the womb. By 8 weeks, the baby has the foundations of all its organs laid down and by 12 weeks the baby has every organ developed and growing. Once you know that, you know that ending the pregnancy means ending a human life. Of course, what ending a pregnancy by abortion does is to make a woman the Mother of a dead baby.

If we believe this, we have to have a different approach to the topic of abortion than those who don’t know or are in denial about the humanity of their children. I once wanted to work to campaign for a change in the law on abortion. Somehow I ended up in the side of the pro-life movement which cares for and supports Mothers instead. But I begin to see that in many ways caring for Mothers who are considering abortion and giving them real alternatives does change minds and hearts. It is a very important part of changing the culture.

We need to show our commitment to this work. If we know what abortion really does, it is our job to witness this to our society in a loving way. We must put our hands in our pockets, our time on offer, our resources at the disposal of those offering help to women in unplanned pregnancies and then we can honestly say to women, “We think you are better than this. You deserve better than this. And your baby also deserves better than this.”

Today we are opposed by groups of people that seem to have a total hatred for us and what we are doing.  Why is that hatred there? Here we are in a country on the brink of legalising abortion for all or any reasons – at each and every stage in pregnancy. Why do these groups even care what we do? Why, when we have approaching 200,000 abortions each year do they care about our little March and our movement? Ask yourself that question and think about it long and hard.

They care because they sense something that we don’t even imagine. That there can come a time when abortion will be exposed for the attack on women that it really is, when no amount of marching or blocking the way will hide the reality of the poverty that abortion is. They sense that a time is coming when abortion won’t be seen as a choice, but will be recognised for what it really is – the wholesale killing of children and wounding of their Mothers.

When they stack the decks against us in debates, when they cover our posters, when they lie about the work we do, when they accuse us of harassment, when they shake their heads and say “Shame on you”, rejoice, because whether they are acting in good faith or bad, they can feel that something is changing.

It makes no sense for them to come out to protest our presence here. Here we stand – with the media not on our side, with our Parliament largely not on our side, with our laws totally not on our side. It makes no sense to protest us unless they fear that the abortion tide is already turning.

And I think they are right.

Don’t expect an overnight change, and don’t expect that there will be no setbacks, but with prayer and commitment and more prayer, we are beginning to change the culture. The persecution of those who try involved in this work will probably get hotter.

But do take note that abortions are dropping. That the number of women having abortions in England and Wales has dropped. That the number of women having abortions in London has dropped – while the population of London has risen by about a million in the same time abortions have dropped from 51,000 abortions per year in 2006 to 42,000 abortions in 2016. (9,000 drop)

Eleven years ago, in 2007, there were over 205,000 abortions in England and Wales. In 2016, there were just over 190,000 abortions which is a drop of over 15,000.

The number of women coming to the England from Ireland has also dropped from 6337 in 2006 to 3989 in 2016, a drop of 2,348.

We have also seen that where there is a regular peaceful, prayerful vigil offering help and covering large numbers of the hours that the centre is open, abortions drop there.

I have been told time and time again – even by Members of Parliament - that this is not true, that we scare women away with our tiny peaceful vigil, and that they go elsewhere to have their abortions. But it is in fact true. The number of abortions at the Ealing and Twickenham abortion centres has dropped by 13.5% and 17% respectively in the last years we have figures for.

And no, these women did not all just go elsewhere. I know because large numbers of them have come to us for a chat or a buggy or some vouchers or a bit of advice. And they have come back to show us their babies! Praise God!

This is happening. People are slowly moving away from abortion.

What must we do?

The first thing is to give your time, and if you are a believer your prayers. We need to have people involved in this peaceful witness to our society that this is wrong and that there are much better ways to help women. We really need large numbers of committed people to be out in all weathers praying and offering support to women while we still legally can! There is little use complaining about buffer zones if we don’t go and help at vigils anyway.

Commit to fighting these changes in the law. The new home secretary Sajid Javid needs letters from everyone here asking him not to bring in National Buffer Zones. And we need to be ready to oppose the decriminalisation of abortion to our own MPs.

In closing, it is great to see you all here today, witnessing to the fact that EVERY LIFE DESERVES LOVE. The Buffer Zones are a frighteningly totalitarian response to a peaceful witness. I regret bitterly each woman who misses the offer of help outside an abortion centre because of the Buffer Zone. But the even greater danger to the future of mums and babies, as well as to the elderly and disabled and to all those who are vulnerable is pro-life apathy. That is the Buffer Zone we have to fight hardest and for the sake of the unborn, the most important one to win.”

You can watch a video of Clare’s speech here

[Photos, Bishop Alan Hopes, formerly of Westminster leading the Helpers of God’s Precious Infants monthly prayer vigil at the abortion centre in Twickenham, where The Good Counsel Network now have a daily vigil. Clare speaking in Parliament Square]

Another Courageous Mother Speaks Up In Support Of Pro-Life Vigils Outside Abortion Centres

“When I found out that I was pregnant, I was worried about having a baby because first of all I was here, in a foreign country and I just came here as a student and the father of the baby was not here. When I found out I was pregnant it was very scary.

When I went to the abortion centre, I was so confused and crying and then I said to myself, I need to think about this some more.

So when I went there I saw that on the other side of the street, there was a woman praying. The lady walked towards me and she said "Are you going for the abortion? I can help you if you don’t want to do it?". Then I said "What? You can help me?"  and then it just took me a second to say, "Ok I will go with you".

That lady was Alina – who you just heard speak [See below].  She was offered help and kept her baby and years later she came there to Marie Stopes to be there for me and my baby, and for other women like me.

That day she took me to the Good Counsel Network’s Centre' and when they told me about the help they could offer me I knew I wanted to keep my baby. And they did give me that help.

The day I was having my baby as well my Counsellor from Good Counsel Network, Iulia, came to the hospital with me. She was with me because I had a caesarean and she was with me in the operating theatre. She held my baby for the first time and I was so grateful for all the help. I’m so grateful first of all for them, if not for them it would have been very difficult for me. It’s so expensive to have a baby, a buggy is expensive and everything but when I needed these things Good Counsel have been there for me.

My daughter was born with congenital rubella infection. It has been quite a difficult journey with my baby, because after she was born I found out that she was blind deaf and she had so many problems. She had to stay in the hospital for 7 months before she came home. and she has many disabilities, but despite all I am so, so in love with my baby – I love her very much. She is everything to me. She holds my heart, she is the best thing that has happened to me. She is very charming and very lovely and I am so grateful that she is here.”                                                Aurelia

[You can see a video of Aurelia's speech here]