Anti-Abortion Violence - is it Christian Terrorism?

An anti-abortion activist, proclaiming that abortion is a crime against the unborn, i.e. murder.

Looking through my Amnesty International traffic the other day, I noticed a report that anti-abortion campaigners had forced the closure of an abortion clinic in the UK for the first time. When I tried to find the name of the clinic mentioned, I found that the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) were not disclosing the name or location of the clinic. I found this curious, so I checked the website of Abort67, one of the most militant anti-abortion movements in the UK. After gagging with horror at some of the images on their website, I looked at their "News" section of July 21. They say:

"It was announced on the British Pregnancy Advisory service (Bpas) website that an abortion clinic is to close "as a direct result of protest activity". According to an article on politics.co.uk, the clinic is Blackfriars Medical Practice, where anti-abortion group, Abort67, have been staging peaceful ‘public education displays’ weekly since October 2014, days before the BPAS clinic opened there. However, BPAS deny that this clinic is to close, despite making available private notes from the GP management to the journalist who claimed closure. Both BPAS and Marie Stopes deny that it is one of their clinics closing, yet BPAS refuses to make public which clinic is closing, despite using this information to gain support from MPs in an EDM tabled by Dianne Abbott."
Do I detect a slightly gloating note here? Perhaps not, but they go on to say that they are concerned about a possible threat to their freedom to protest peacefully outside abortion clinics. Ruth Rawlins, of Abort67, says:
"BPAS is a business which promotes abortion but it does not give women the full facts about the consequences of killing their babies and our peaceful display outside clinics are intended to give expectant mothers a clear understanding of the horrific nature of abortion – the destruction of human life - so they can make an informed choice...Our volunteers hand out leaflets and have conversations with passers-by. No one is pressed to engage with us and no one is obstructed from entering the abortion clinic. We simply present educational displays outside clinics to show women the results of abortion procedures.”
I do not wish to enter the discussion about the rights and wrongs of abortion itself - that goes on all the time. What concerns me is the fact that protest groups like Abort67 will see an abortion clinic's closure as a victory, and will try to close down more. To be fair to anti-abortion groups in the UK, they do seek to remain within the law (so far). Abroad, however, some elements of the anti-abortion movement have been much less restrained.
In the USA, there have been eight murders of abortion clinic staff, seven of which took place in the 90s. The victims included four doctors, two clinic employees, a security guard, and a clinic escort. The most recent of these murders happened on May 31, 2009, when Dr. George Tiller was shot and killed by Scott Roeder as Tiller served as an usher at a church in Wichita, Kansas.
Besides these murders, there have been 17 attempted murders, 41 bombings and over 100 assaults on abortion clinic staff since 1977. Attacks of this nature have also occurred in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Again, in the USA, there is even an underground anti-abortion terror group known as "The Army of God". We can only hope that the tentacles of this organisation do not spread over here.
The remarkable fact about the perpetrators of these acts is that they consider themselves to be Christians. Now, I am not suggesting for a minute that all Christians who oppose abortion are terrorists; every Christian I know who believes in the sanctity of life (which is all of them) would totally condemn these crimes. So then, no, I do not believe anti - abortion violence is Christian Terrorism; it is the province of a small, bigoted minority. In which case, then, should we not stop talking about "Muslim Terrorism", when only a minority of Muslims - aka Jihadi militants- carry it out?

Scott Roeder, anti-abortion activist who saw no crime in committing the murder of an adult.

Heathrow and a Sense of Insecurity

On Saturday evening (11th July), I went to meet my wife off an inbound flight from Europe at Terminal Five, Heathrow. As her plane was delayed, I sat with a cup of coffee in the Arrivals section branch of Costa, reading a magazine. At about 19.25,I turned to find an unattended green suitcase behind me. After recovering from my surprise, I told a cleaner that this was not my bag. The cleaner mentioned it to the staff behind the counter, who said that it was "probably" the property of someone in the queue. No attempt was made to ask the people in the queue. More interest was shown by a taxi driver waiting for a fare from an inbound flight. I finished my coffee, and went to the barrier to see if my wife had arrived. I turned around to see the taxi driver shaking his head in disbelief. The bag had not been collected, and there was a fresh set of customers in the queue. It was now about 19.35, so the taxi driver and I spoke to a female BA flight attendant, who questioned the café staff about the bag. Incredibly, they gave her the same story - it "probably" belonged to someone in the customer queue. I pointed out that this was a completely new set of customers and the same unlikely explanation had been given to me 10 minutes before. The flight attendant promised to report the matter at once. At about 19.50, an embarrassed looking passenger appeared and took the bag away (he'd forgotten it). I did not see him, but the taxi driver sent the passenger on his way with a well-deserved flea in his ear. No-one from airport security came to investigate.
 What do the posters say? "If you find an unattended bag, report it at once"? Well, reported it was, but none of the staff I encountered seemed to take it seriously. I suppose it could be argued that this whole episode took "only" half an hour, but it was a long half hour. Besides which, it only takes a second for a bomb to explode. It could also be said that everything turned out all right in the end, but it could just as easily have turned out badly. At a time when the risk of a terrorist attack on the UK is rated as "severe", when British families are mourning the loss of loved ones murdered in Tunisia and on 7/7, when ISIS fanatics boast to the "Mail on Sunday" of Jihadi terrorists in the UK itching to launch attacks, there is no room for complacency.
With hindsight, I have to admit that I could have done more. I have since complained online to Heathrow authorities, and await their response. However, I realise that I should have made a lot more fuss about that unattended suitcase than I did. If it happens again, I know what to do. So do all of us - the next unattended bag you see might not be so harmless.

A Poem for 7/7

I have to declare from the outset that I have previously posted this poem below (7th May, 2011). With the 10th anniversary of 7/7 upon us, and given the recent atrocity in Tunisia, I believe my words of July, 2005, to be as appropriate now as they were then. The memory of the day after the attack remains fresh in my mind; equally fresh is the pain and grief of the relatives of those who were killed, maimed and traumatised. For all those murdered, injured and maimed in mind and body by the bomb attacks in London on 7/7, I post this poem yet again:

ON ALPERTON STATION

(July 8^th, 2005)

I stood on Alperton Station,

“Uncertain and afraid”

Of sudden, unseen terror –

My train was undelayed.

I left the silent platform

To start my working day,

When, on the darkened staircase,

A young girl barred my way.

She shimmered like the summer dawn.

“Please stay, my friend”, she said.

Her face was bright with metal shards

That garlanded her head.

“For you still have the working day,

The breakfast and the train,

The coffee break, the journey home

That I won’t make again.

My laughter lit the London skies;

I loved, and I was loved.

I filled a hole in many hearts

Till Hate had me removed.

If you’re in town at Christmas –

A time that I won’t see –

Please find my favourite wine bar

And raise one glass for me”.

Before I spoke – she vanished.

I slumped against a wall,

Shivered like a windblown leaf

And hoped I’d dreamed it all.

I walked from Alperton Station

And wondered what was real –

So glad for hands that trembled,

So glad for nerves that feel.