Anti-abortionists turn sights on schools and hospitals in US-style campaig

[norml]

Anti-abortionists turn sights on schools and hospitals in US-style campaign

· Catholic teachers targeted by pro-life website
· Police keep watch as tactics of hatred spread

Sandra Laville
Monday March 27, 2006
The Guardian


Anti-abortionists inspired by the militancy of the movement in America are adopting tactics associated with animal rights extremists in an escalating campaign of intimidation.

The latest victims of harassment by a group called UK Life League are the pupils and teachers at a Catholic girls school in Surrey. The head teacher of Woldingham School, Diana Vernon, has been accused "child abuse" for providing sex education for her 14 and 15-year-old pupils as required under the national curriculum. Activists are being encouraged to bombard Ms Vernon with hate emails.

Article continues

Earlier this month, a gynaecology nurse at King's College Hospital in London, who has been commended for her work, was the target of a hate campaign by the anti-abortion group. Her home address was posted on its website and she was accused of being a "cold-hearted baby killer".
Elsewhere, hospitals have been sent images of aborted foetuses and abortion clinics subjected to noisy demonstrations.

Police sources within the National Extremism Tactical Coordination Unit (Netcu), set up primarily to tackle animal rights extremists, said it would be closely watching the activities of the Life League, and the man behind it, James Dowson, a businessman and self-styled vicar, who is a former member of the Orange Lodge in Northern Ireland.

"These tactics are akin to those of animal rights extremists," the Netcu police source said. "The posting of addresses on the internet and the way they are encouraging spam mails all sounds very familiar to us, which is why we are interested."


snip


http://www.guardian.co.uk/religion/Story/0,,1740332,00.html?gusrc=rss

[ret5hd]

1. James Dowson=James Dobson.

how coincidental.

[WindRavenX]

2. Fuck these neanderthals

(no offense to the real neaderthals).

But calling sex ed "child abuse"? I mean, are you for real? :wtf:

Some people are so ashamed of their own bodies and sexuality that it really is sad.

[MountainLaurel]

3. Yesterday, at a UU church here in DC

The mission topic for the day was the sexual health program created jountly by the UU Association and the United Church of Christ (the good Christians). The program was contrasted to the abstinence-only programs, now the only ones receiving federal funding, which use lies about biology and guilt rather than facts.

But more powerful were the words of two young people: One who went through the program recently and another who was an intern in the national office that created it. The first speaker was a teenage boy who talked about how he didn't think he needed a sexual education program and didn't want to give up three Saturdays for it. But he said, he realized he was wrong on the first day, when the instructor talked about how the DC public school sex ed program does not talk about gays and lesbians because some people in the community think 10th graders are too young to hear that information. His response: "Me and my two dads would disagree." This was met with raucous applause.

The other speaker was a woman in her early 20s. She talked about how she was shamed at age 5 after her mother found out that she and a neighbor the same age had been exploring their bodies together. That shame of her body and her sexuality was one of the contributing factors to the four years of sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of a "friend." Her experience led her to an internship at the DC offices of the UUA, to work with the sexual health education program.

[Nobody]

4. They really hate heterosexuality, don't they?

They just can't wrap their minds around the fact that "none of the above" for a sexual orientation is very rare.

[musical_soul]

5. Here's what's funny.

Some conservatives would find the animal rights activists to be extremists, but the anti-choice fanatics aren't in their minds.