Abortion clinic protests

Press, 25 January 1986, Page 18

Abortion clinic protests

Sir,—l am a born-again Christian, and do not agree with abortion, but equally do not agree with the way some of the pro-life people are behaving. My concern is what these protests are doing to the people on the receiving end. Do they see people who are standing for Christianity as loving and helpful or as vindictive? Will their actions give them a deeper understanding of Jesus and His love, or will it turn them away? Jesus did not victimise groups or individuals to get them to “see it His way.” Jesus condemns the sin, not the sinner. I believe this means that He is against what motivates the action, not the person. As Christians, we have a powerful weapon, prayer. This is a spiritual war, and it is being turned into a personal, and group attack. If the same amount of time was spent in prayer and fasting as it is in protesting, I believe we would see more results. — Yours, etc., (Mrs) COLLEEN BELL. Kaiapoi, January 22, 1986. Sir, — Like Jean Goodbrand, I view with disgust the antics of the anti-abortionists. They scream about the rights of the unborn, but I have yet to be convinced that they are in the least concerned with the born,

either the mothers or the babies whose birth could cause horrendous tragedy — mental, medical, even economic. Once these babies are bom the protesters sit back, complacent in the glow of public attention. How many are involved in support for battered wives, abused and disturbed children, victims of spina bifida, congenital defects? I imagine no woman faces the trauma of an abortion if the alternative were not even more traumatic. To the do-gooders I would say do not add to the distress of women who have already reached the point of desperation, but use your energies to offer help where it is needed. — Yours, etc., BERYL OSBAHR. January 22, 1986. Sir, — As a 31-year-old mum with a 15-year-old, if I or my daughter were pregnant we both agree we would have our pregnancy terminated with no questions asked, knowing that the doctors would be doing a human favour. Why do not these picketers put their energies and money into educating the men to have a vasectomy. A vasectomy takes less than one hour. — Yours, etc., LIZZY DAWSON. January 21, 1986.