British Pro-life campaigners say their freedom of speech has been denied after being arrested
We read:
"Two ‘pro-life’ activists claim their freedom of speech has been suppressed after they were arrested for holding a banner depicting an aborted foetus. The campaigners, Andy Stephenson, 35, and Kathryn Sloane, 19, say they were simply peacefully protesting outside an abortion clinic when police stepped in.
Staff in the clinic had called for help claiming patients arriving for appointments were traumatised and upset by the pair’s 7ft by 5ft banner, which showed an embryo aborted at eight weeks.
When officers ask Mr Stephenson and Miss Sloane to take down their banner, they did so - but immediately replaced it with a near-identical banner of a ten-week-old foetus.
At that point the duo were arrested and taken to a police station until the early hours of the morning. In a month’s time they will be told if they face prosecution for causing ‘harassment, alarm or distress’.
Mr Stephenson, who lives in Worthing, West Sussex, with his wife, daughter and baby son Quinn, went on: ‘We’re seeing success already in what we do, with people changing their minds about abortion.
Director of the Christian Legal Centre Andrea Williams, who is supporting the campaigning duo, said: ‘This is a test case for their democratic right to reveal what abortion really is like.
‘In the 21st century it is not appropriate to silence and to censor those who speak out against abortion, even if the manner in which they do so is not how many would choose.’
Source
11 comments:
Free speech is a bitch, especially when you don't agree with it. If the abortion clinic can advertise, (and they can) how can an opposing view be illegal? Perhaps the real crime here is being politically incorrect in a nation totally addicted to PC?
Free speech is only that, it is passive. There is nothing that says you have the right to shove it in someones face at a time of distress.
I would love to know what makes the assholes tick and return the favour.
BTW how many kids have these assholes adopted? My guess is zero.
I wish they would do something worthwhile like promote contraceptives outside pubs.
Actually, there is no timing provision on when free speech can be employed.
Regarding the adoption argument, I've heard it before and it is interesting. The idea here seems to be that if you are opposed to abortion, that you are obliged to provide for the care of the child. Not quite true - while some do, there's no requirement that someone take over another person's responsibility. Likewise, if you are against the death penalty, are you obligated to take a death row inmate into your house?
If you think people should promote contraceptives outside pubs, no one is stopping you!
What I think is that these religous nut jobs should be prevented from harassing people without just cause.
So do you support the arsehole religo's in the US that protest at soldiers funerals?
You are right though, there is no timing provision on free speech. But free speech comes at a price. You should and can be held accountable to any direct action as a result of your free speech whether you intended it or not. It is called incitement. Something that should be explained to muslims although no government seems to have the balls to do so.
Anon 2:19 - I think there are some differences. At an abortion clinic, the 'religious nutjobs' you refer to are attempting to directly prevent the murder of a human child. This would be a ubiquitously noble cause except for that ultimate travesty of justice called Roe v. Wade - the most evil verdict ever by a court in all of history. Aside from that, they are on the sidewalk (public property) and usually take care not to actually block people as that is illegal.
In the case of the ones that go do war protests at the funerals of soldiers, they go to cemeteries, some of which are NOT public property and demand their free speech be heard while standing on private property uninvited to a private function. I don't have to let someone practice their free speech inside my house, my property, if I disagree with it. If we did, children could say anything they ever wanted to their parents and the parents could never discipline them for it. This is a totally different story in my opinion, let alone the differences in their goals.
But again, like you reiterated, there is no timing on free speech. Much as I disagree with that those funeral protesters do, if they do it on public property, even if in poor taste, it is still legal.
I would like to 'prosecute' the government and police for causing me ‘harassment, alarm and distress’. Is there anything I can do about that?
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