The recent battle between abortion supporters and the Helpers of God’s Precious Infants in Albury is the latest in a string of incidents that goes back several years.
Peta Evans of the Helpers of God’s Precious Infants told The Record there has always been opposition to the prayer vigils, but that it has escalated in the past few years.
“It began with the Albury City Council rangers trying to enforce their ‘street activity’ bylaws on our protests,” she explained.
“They insisted they had the right to limit where we stood, what signage we had and even our ability to speak to people.”
A meeting was then held with the council and police, at which it was established that the group’s right to protest superseded council laws and that the ‘street activity’ bylaws were not applicable.
The next incident in mid-2011 proved to be the beginning of the group’s battle with abortion advocates.
“Passersby noticed a camera that we had in one of our cars that we had trained on the sidewalk counsellors to protect us from any false accusations,” Mrs Evans explained.
“That then caused a furore in the media. The pro-aborts jumped on the bandwagon and accused us of ‘filming women’ and ‘invading their privacy’.”
It was at this stage that a small number of people began to hold their own protest against the Helpers’ presence outside the abortion clinic.
“They brought signs and a large blue sheet held up by sticks to block our camera,” Mrs Evans said.
“They managed to harass us for about three months. They tried to block us from speaking to people entering and leaving the clinic. They eventually gave up but we had to endure a lot of abuse and harassment.”
In August 2011, local police called for a mediation meeting between the abortionist and her supporters, local residents, media, and the Helpers.
“This was a difficult meeting where we were in the minority and yet we persevered and the police and council recognised that we have a right to protest peacefully,” Mrs Evans said.
In response to claims they were breaching medical privacy, the Helpers agreed to remove their video camera; however, the clinic has since installed its own surveillance cameras.
Retired Dr Peter Mourik, the head of Women’s Health for Goulburn Susie Reid, and an Anglican minister, are now agitating for community support to ban the Helpers’ vigils, Mrs Evans said.
“[Minister] McCloud-Miller has now had two public forums at his church to drum up support and interest from the media in a campaign to destroy our reputation and gain signatures for a petition that Dr Mourik started,” she said.
Although the local council’s decision that the issue is a State, rather than local one, was a small victory for the pro-life group, Mrs Evans said the battle was not over yet.
“Knowing the determination of Dr Mourik, I do not think it will be the end of the matter,” she said.