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Tuesday July 4, 2006
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Criminal Charges for Showing Abortion Pictures Violate Freedom of Speech Rights: Editor of NRO
By Gudrun Schultz
NORFOLK, England, July 4, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Jailing abortion
opponents for showing pictures of aborted babies is an attack on free
speech wrote journalist and editor of National Review Online, Kathryn
Lopez, in the Dunklin Democrat last Friday.
In an article for the Democrat Lopez cited the conviction and jailing
in the U.K. of Edward Atkinson and the conviction (on the same day) of
a wheelchair-bound woman for sending pictures of aborted babies to
pharmacies, as instances of government-led attacks on freedom of speech
rights. 74-year-old Edward Atkinson spent one month in jail for
repeatedly sending graphic pictures of aborted babies to staff and
administrators at Norfolk’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital. He was attempting
to “educate” them, he said, about the abortion procedures taking place
at the institution.
“[I]t’s a scandal that a man would be jailed for such an act of free
speech. But sending offensive material through the mail is a crime in
Merry Old England and so a judge deemed this old man’s mail criminal.
You don’t have to think that abortion is an evil that we need to
eradicate to think that that is an outrage,” writes Lopez.
Referring to images of partial-birth abortion used by the U.S. National
Right to Life Committee to emphasize the barbarity of the procedure,
Lopez said, “Not only should a citizen be free to show such disturbing
images—that illustrate a legal procedure offensive to our very
humanity—those images can be a public service.”
“That’s why the United Kingdom’s treatment of Mr. Atkinson has been so reprehensible.”
“A judge told Atkinson that ‘it is clear that you intended to shock and
I am certain your purpose was to cause distress and anxiety,’” wrote
Lopez. “Well, I for one am shocked, distressed and anxious—not just
because abortion is legal there, and here across the pond, but because
of this apparent governmentally enforced conspiracy of silence. The
Atkinson files reveal a real case of aborting free speech. Abortion
defenders may not agree on the underlying issue—but can’t we all muster
outrage over attempts to avoid discussing the details of the issue?”
Along with one month in jail, Atkinson was given a five-year
anti-social behaviour order and threatened with five years
incarceration if he disobeys the order. The hospital also removed him
from a wait list for hip surgery evaluation and banned him from
receiving anything but life-saving treatment.
Read the Daily Dunklin Democratic report here
http://www.dddnews.com/story/1158711.html
See previous LifeSiteNews coverage:
74-Year-Old UK Pro-Lifer Jailed, Denied Health Care for Sending Abortion Pics to Hospital
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/may/06050904.html
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