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Thousands of activists marched from the Emmanuel Centre in Westminster to Parliament Square on Saturday, as part of an annual demonstration organized by pro-life group March For Life U.K.
The march took place amid an ongoing debate over abortion law in England, Scotland and Wales, with pro-life campaigners calling for greater restrictions on abortion and opposing legislation establishing buffer zones around abortion clinics and hospitals.
Under current law, abortions can generally be carried out up to 24 weeks’ gestation, subject to certain legal conditions.
Buffer zones around abortion clinics and hospitals, meanwhile, restrict activities intended to influence, obstruct, or harass people accessing abortion services.
March For Life organizer Ben Thatcher told EWTN News, “I feel there's an absolute travesty that a human life thatʼs made in the image of God can be ended and can be dressed up in this slogan of ‘abortion is healthcare’.”
Meanwhile, hundreds of counter-protesters also attended a pro-choice rally nearby, chanting slogans that included “abortion is a human right,” “not the church, not the state, we decide our own fate,” “Christian fascists go away,” and “keep your rosaries off our ovaries.”
Protesters continued chanting “pro-life, that’s a lie, you don’t care if women die” and “our bodies, our choice” for hours.
Several speakers at the Abortion Rights rally warned of a potential new threat to bodily autonomy. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has said it is “utterly ludicrous” to allow abortion up to 24 weeks.
Sophia Beach, from Women Against the Far Right, told the rally, “Tommy Robinson, Nigel Farage and Prince Andrew are the biggest threat to women and girls.”
“Andy Burnham is neck and neck with Nigel Farage in the polls. And if we want to know what a Reform U.K. government would look like, all we have to do is look at Donald Trump’s America.”
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