Pro-life campaigners plan silent protest

Pro-life campaigners are planning a silent public protest on Saturday, to give witness to the millions of abortions performed in Britain since 1968 under the 1967 Abortion Act. Supporters of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) will stand at the side of major roads and intersections carrying posters and placards which bring home the reality of abortion. The event is known as the Prolife Chains and will be held from 11 am till 1 pm. This year's witness will take place on the 34th anniversary of the taking effect of the Abortion Act. A spokesman said: "Since 1968 more than six and a half million unborn children were killed through registered abortion in Britain. This figure does not include abortions caused by birth-control methods such as intra-uterine devices and morning-after pills. Nor does it include the number of embryos destroyed or discarded during and after in vitro fertilisation." One of the placards which some SPUC supporters will carry includes the number of a telephone help-line for people who have been hurt by abortion. "With Tesco giving out abortion-inducing morning-after pills free under a policy aimed at girls as young as 13, it is all the more essential to give witness to the sanctity of human life and the harm done to women by abortion," said John Smeaton, national director of SPUC.