Who’s calling the shots?

After seeing that the anti-choice activists set up camp outside a vaccination centre near Oval cricket ground last Saturday (17/7/21), Chair Kerry Abel put down her thoughts.

It’s been laughable during the Covid outbreak to suddenly see anti-vaxxers, who tend to come from the extreme right, displaying ‘My Body My Choice’ placards. I know they think they are being clever for co-opting our language, but when we advocate for control over our bodies it’s because it doesn’t affect anyone else.

Last week a group of combined anti-choice and anti-vaxxers from the Centre for Bioethical Reform UK appeared outside a London vaccination centre with the kind of graphics we’re used to seeing outside abortion clinics. An image of a foetus apparently named Johanna, whose stem cells were used in the 1970s to develop the research which led to the vaccines today, apparently they know that, including the name.

The Vatican approved the vaccines in December 2020 despite the fact they have been developed with stem cell research. The Pope didn’t mince his words when he suggested that people have a moral obligation to receive one of the new coronavirus vaccines as soon as possible.

We should be clear, these are tactics inherited from the US and there is an obvious paradox on the right, around whose lives they care about – it’s not women and it’s not the general public who would be protected by masks and vaccinations. It’s not the sick or poor either, because that would necessitate funding a proper public health system.

So what do they care about? Just foetuses and viruses?

Or is it just that they can’t help themselves interfering with people’s healthcare choices? They saw a clinic and just had to protest outside it.

We know the antis will keep pulling these stunts, so we need to fight for the pro-choice majority and ensure our rights to free, safe, legal and local abortion and vaccination healthcare are not undermined by a vocal and shameless minority.

Join Abortion Rights to help us carry on that work https://abortionrights.org.uk/support-us/

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