This Blog is now closing down until the New Year and I finish with a personal reflection.
The Christmas season begins with the Annunciation and ends with the birth of Christ but in between is an important moment when Mary goes to visit her, also pregnant, cousin Elizabeth who makes the memorable reply to Mary
"when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy."
a very specific affirmation of the life of the unborn which is commemorated in the Icon above which I first encountered when I joined the 2011 March for Life in Washington DC.
So it is worth remembering that in the year since Christmas 2011 and Christmas 2012 some 200,000 babies will have been legally killed in Britain through Abortion, that means over 500 babies killed every single day.
During 2012 I have been involved in defending Health workers who decline to work in Abortion wards because they want to save life not destroy life. I was involved in defending members of a pro-life prayer vigil who were being legally threatened by Abortion provider "Marie Stopes International" and I am pleased that when their bullying and attempted intimidation was challenged Marie Stopes backed down.
As a follow on from that I had an email exchange with a staff member of another Abortion provider BPAS when I questioned some of the statistics being quoted by BPAS. The exchange was initially jovial as shown below (out of respect for the BPAS lady I have anonymised her replies)
"From: BPAS
To: Neil Addison
Sent: Tuesday, October 16, 2012 4:48 PM
Subject: RE: Statistics Quoted on BPAS Advertisement
Dear Neil
will be very interested to see how your complaint to the ASA on this matter is resolved. Do keep me informed.
Best wishes
BPAS
To: Neil Addison
Sent: Tuesday, October 16, 2012 4:48 PM
Subject: RE: Statistics Quoted on BPAS Advertisement
Dear Neil
will be very interested to see how your complaint to the ASA on this matter is resolved. Do keep me informed.
Best wishes
BPAS
From: "Neil Addison"
To: BPAS
Subject: Re: Statistics Quoted on BPAS Advertisement
Date: 16 October 2012 16:29
Dear BPAS
Who said I was going to complain to the ASA? I'm not Marie Stopes International
Best Wishes
To: BPAS
Subject: Re: Statistics Quoted on BPAS Advertisement
Date: 16 October 2012 16:29
Dear BPAS
Who said I was going to complain to the ASA? I'm not Marie Stopes International
Best Wishes
Neil Addison"
but that jovial tone changed a bit later on as we continued to correspond
From: BPAS
To: Neil Addison
Sent: Friday, October 19, 2012 6:29 PM
Subject: Re: Statistics Quoted on BPAS Advertisement
Thank you for your email, Neil.
I suppose what is clear is that your concerns about the campaign are not based on what is statistically accurate or not but on your own moral reservations about abortion. It may be helpful if you were able to separate the two.
And yes, I would describe a woman who has delivered a dead baby whom she has planned and prepared for as a mother, in the same way I would a mother whose child has died at five or fifty. I am glad you do too.
The point really is that many people opposed to abortion appear to labour under the misapprehension that women end pregnancies because they have no idea of the value of what they are carrying and no understanding of what it means to be a mother. On the contrary, it is precisely because they understand what it means to be a mother and the value of life that they decide abortion is what is morally right for them.
Best wishes
To: Neil Addison
Sent: Friday, October 19, 2012 6:29 PM
Subject: Re: Statistics Quoted on BPAS Advertisement
Thank you for your email, Neil.
I suppose what is clear is that your concerns about the campaign are not based on what is statistically accurate or not but on your own moral reservations about abortion. It may be helpful if you were able to separate the two.
And yes, I would describe a woman who has delivered a dead baby whom she has planned and prepared for as a mother, in the same way I would a mother whose child has died at five or fifty. I am glad you do too.
The point really is that many people opposed to abortion appear to labour under the misapprehension that women end pregnancies because they have no idea of the value of what they are carrying and no understanding of what it means to be a mother. On the contrary, it is precisely because they understand what it means to be a mother and the value of life that they decide abortion is what is morally right for them.
Best wishes
BPAS
From: "Neil Addison"
To: BPAS
Subject: Re: Statistics Quoted on BPAS Advertisement
Date: 19 October 2012 19:26
Dear BPAS
I am sorry we suddenly seem to be disagreeing however I just do not understand your point. My own views on the morality or otherwise of Abortion cannot affect a consideration of the accuracy or otherwise of the Statistics quoted by BPAS in its advert.
Truth is important so whether the statistics BPAS quote are accurate or not is important, after all if BPAS considers the claim that one in three women will have an Abortion important enough to quote in an advert then it important enough to test the claim and I merely wished to establish how accurate the figures were. I appreciate your honesty in answering my questions as promptly and as fully as you have and as I have indicated I will examine the evidence you and others have provided, I cannot change the figures I can only examine them to see if they support the statistic quoted and if they do then so be it, the truth is whatever it is.
Your separate point about women who have abortions
"it is precisely because they understand what it means to be a mother and the value of life that they decide abortion is what is morally right for them."
is something I find logically unsustainable. The idea that any person can decide something is "morally right for them" is a illogical fallacy since any person can decide that anything whether Abortion, Fraud, Paedophilia or Drink Driving is "morally right for them" but that does not make these actions morally right.
To say that a decision is morally right because an individual has decided that the decision is "morally right for them" is to distort the concept of morality and to turn it into a simple euphemism for personal convenience.
Best Wishes
Neil Addison"
To: BPAS
Subject: Re: Statistics Quoted on BPAS Advertisement
Date: 19 October 2012 19:26
Dear BPAS
I am sorry we suddenly seem to be disagreeing however I just do not understand your point. My own views on the morality or otherwise of Abortion cannot affect a consideration of the accuracy or otherwise of the Statistics quoted by BPAS in its advert.
Truth is important so whether the statistics BPAS quote are accurate or not is important, after all if BPAS considers the claim that one in three women will have an Abortion important enough to quote in an advert then it important enough to test the claim and I merely wished to establish how accurate the figures were. I appreciate your honesty in answering my questions as promptly and as fully as you have and as I have indicated I will examine the evidence you and others have provided, I cannot change the figures I can only examine them to see if they support the statistic quoted and if they do then so be it, the truth is whatever it is.
Your separate point about women who have abortions
"it is precisely because they understand what it means to be a mother and the value of life that they decide abortion is what is morally right for them."
is something I find logically unsustainable. The idea that any person can decide something is "morally right for them" is a illogical fallacy since any person can decide that anything whether Abortion, Fraud, Paedophilia or Drink Driving is "morally right for them" but that does not make these actions morally right.
To say that a decision is morally right because an individual has decided that the decision is "morally right for them" is to distort the concept of morality and to turn it into a simple euphemism for personal convenience.
Best Wishes
Neil Addison"
I never received a reply to that last email but I often think about the lady I was corresponding with and what she said. It makes me profoundly sad to think of her and the others involved in this business of killing.I do not believe they are bad or evil people but they are involved in something profoundly wrong and profoundly evil.
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