ISSUES
: Abortion
Chapter 1: Abortion facts
9
graphic images – ran a stall at this year’s event; but,
unusually, did not openly display its signs. The march’s
official signs carried slogans, whilst banners showed
images of babies. The event avoided the issue by not
representing abortion in images at all.
Familiar Catholic iconography was on display, including
a Cross of Life, where participants could place prayers,
and a Mercy Bus – a sort of mobile confession box.
But we saw more secular elements being woven into
proceedings this year. Ryan Bomberger, of the pro-life
Radiance Foundation, claimed abortion is “the social
injustice of the day” because it implies that “somehow,
some lives are more equal than others”.
Bomberger even co-opted celebrity, encouraging
demonstrators to wave their iPhones in the air. The
logic here seemed to be that Apple founder Steve Jobs,
like Bomberger, had been adopted – proving that great
opportunities can be missed because of abortion.
Following the march, Canadian pro-life activist
Stephanie Gray gave a contrasting talk. Where
Bomberger was upbeat and motivational, Gray was
careworn and emotional as she described a “broken
culture”.
She said we must “learn how to weep for the 200,000
little children who die every year in the UK”. Asking the
crowd to treat activism as a daily event, Gray steeped
her talk in messages of good and evil, and the need to
pray for abortionists’ souls, as they have “followed the
father of lies and the prince of darkness”.
The event culminated with a vigil led by one of three
Bishops, who offered prayers to all constituents in the
abortion debate, from pregnant mothers to medical
practitioners, and a minute’s silence “to pray for the
victims of abortion”.
A changing response
The changing nature of this march over the years,
particularly in terms of scale, reveals subtle shifts
in its ambitions and its target audience. By bringing
in secular elements and branding, it is clearly trying
to appeal beyond its core supporters, into the wider
public.
But from our observations, it looks like the anti-abortion
movement remains some way from its goal of appealing
beyond a limited strain of committed Catholicism.
There is also still a reliance on speakers from North
America and Africa, where the anti-abortion movement
is more developed. This is perhaps a reminder that it has
had a harder time gaining traction in Britain’s broadly
liberal secular landscape.
That said, it’s clear that the event’s increased
professionalism also poses questions for abortion rights
activists in the UK. Faced with an evolving British pro-life
movement, they will have to think carefully about how to
react, and how to defend access to abortion in Britain.
16 May 2016
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“it looks like the anti-abortion
movement remains some way from
its goal of appealing beyond a limited
strain of committed Catholicism”
