An open letter to 40 Days for Life - Anti-choice vigil-antes

Source: The Atlantic

In an interesting article by The Atlantic, Liam Hoare lets us see the fallout of the anti-choice prayer vigil outside of the London office of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS). 


Their hope is that through prayer and fasting they can... actually... I don't know what they hope for through prayer and fasting. Anyway, they claim to be peaceful and respectful, with participants having to sign a 'statement of peace' before they are permitted to represent the London  satellite movement of the U.S.-based  40 Days for Life organisation.


This sort of American 'in-your-face' is more than familiar to our friends over the pond, but here in the U.K.we have enjoyed a number of years of relative stability on the subject of abortion.


That said, there have recently been a number of eye-opening sorties by certain conservative, Christian types in Parliament that have sought to reign in introduce more restrictive rules regarding abortion.


I had a look at their website, and scribbled down a few notes. An open letter after the fold. I wonder if they will reply?

Hi.

I came across your website and despite it finishing at Lent's end, I had a few questions about the BPAS vigil, if you don't mind answering them.

Getting involved

• Prayer and fasting. I am unclear as to what the purpose of the prayer and fasting was. Was it so that those that attended the vigil could be closer to God, or was there active engagement with those in the environs?
• Sign up for prayer requests and updates. What are the nature of the prayer requests, and who are they for?
• Find your role. There was no link to the magazine on the page. Is there an e-version?
• Find your role. What is the minimum requirement for experience and training for counsellors?
• Participate in the peaceful vigil. Given that you do not use graphic images yourselves, why do you not condone those that do?

Links

• Abortion-breast cancer. Are you aware that this link only provides information to groups that have religious ideologies that do not parse against the weight of medical science?
• Abortion-breast cancer. Do you think it is ethical to cite medical links that might scare people into making a decision that will affect the rest of their lives, based on evidence that is not recognised by any mainstream medical authority?

Also, I wonder how this is all financed. The U.S. side of things is a 501(c)(3) organisation, but I do not know what relationship you have with them, or the rules regarding your requests for donations here in the U.K. If you are a registered charity here, of course, you apply for Gift Aid which will greatly increase your coffers. Your website is not clear on that. Would you be so kind as to give a little further depth to your sponsors, where the money comes from and where it goes?

I guess my main question is whether or not there was any pro-active engagement with any of the clinics clients? I would hate to think that these women, in what must be very trying times for them, felt like they were being humiliated, embarrassed or otherwise uncomfortable.

Thank you for your time in considering these questions, and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Kind regards,

T Stock

P.S. Please do not add me to any mailing lists. You can use this mail to respond to me directly only. Thank you.