Abortion Resistance, a youth pro-life activist group has vowed to end the “culture of death” in Britain and to empower individuals as the government continues to ease restrictions on abortion.
On Saturday, Abortion Resistance gathered outside Parliament to protest against the decision by the nominally Conservative government of Prime Minister Boris Johnson to enshrine at-home abortions into law.
The measure, which allows women to order pregnancy terminating drugs over the phone within the first ten weeks of their term, was initially introduced as “temporary” during the first year of the Chinese coronavirus crisis. However, in March, the Parliament voted by a margin of 215 to 188 to extend the policy permanently.
Prior to the change in law, pregnant women were mandated to have an in-person consultation with a doctor before legally being permitted to have an abortion. The youth activist group warned that removing such safeguards may result in more women being coerced into ending their pregnancies.
Ettore Finaldi, the director of outreach for Abortion Resistance, told Breitbart London that at-home abortions leave women “even more alone than you usually are in these choices of abortion,” adding that there is a real danger of women being coerced in such circumstances.
Another activist, Nehemie Lanahan said that she has had friends in school who were coerced into having abortions, sometimes from abusive boyfriends or from medical professionals at clinics. She said that some of the girls were as young as sixteen-years-old when doctors pressured them into ending their pregnancies, explaining that the girls were told that having a child would interfere with their studies.
“They do regret it, a lot of them do,” Lanahan said.
Abortion Resistance’s director of outreach, Christina Hogan argued that there needs to be a cultural shift in order to prevent more children being aborted, saying that it is a false perception that having an abortion is “empowering” for young women.
Carrying a sign which read “coerced abortion is misogyny manifest,” Hogan explained that: “If you want to be a feminist, it’s not about trying to be equal to a man in terms of never having children, it’s about being empowered with whatever circumstances you have, you can have that baby and have that career.”
“Women feel as though they have to be like men to be empowered. That’s not what it means to be empowered. To be a woman is to be empowered,” she told Breitbart London.
The emergence of the youth pro-life group comes as abortions have become more and more commonplace in the UK, with one in four pregnancies ending in abortion last year. During the lockdown year of 2020, a record high 210,860 abortions were recorded in England and Wales.
Unlike traditional pro-life movements, Abortion Resistance has refrained from espousing political or religious affiliations in order to reach as wide of an audience as possible.
The group is also novel in their approach to outreach, with their members frequently posting pro-life messages on social media apps geared toward younger generations such as Tik Tok, Instagram, and Snapchat.
@abortionresist I had a home abortion in 2020. Unlike @Kate who paints a very privileged picture, I was all alone. I had been coerced & blackmailed into making a choice that wasn’t my own. Unfortunately, I know so many women w/ similar stories. This is why Home Abortions are unsafe. I know if I was w/ professionals at a clinic I’d never have aborted my baby. My voice is just as important as yours, so let me use it. For the record I’m against all abortions but there’s only so many characters on this app. #fyp ♬ Free KayFlock – Nydrillsongs
In order to “end the culture of death,” Abortion Resistance said they are looking to influence the conversation and political policy to the same level that leftist protest movements such as Black Lives Matter and Extinction Rebellion have achieved in Britain.
“We are hoping to get as big if not bigger than them,” co-founder and director of media, Eden McCourt said.
The pro-life activist said that she wants to help her country see that “abortion isn’t the solution to the world’s problems, it’s not a solution for anything, and it does more harm than good.”
“I garuntee you that every single person who has had an abortion will say that it wasn’t a great experience, it was a really tough decision, I was coerced into it. We know people who say these things and it’s time to start listening to their voices and show abortion for what it is, a crime against humanity.”
Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka