Large London, England Abortion Clinic to Close This Month

International   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Jun 18, 2013   |   1:37PM   |   London, England

The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), one of the big abortion companies in England, is closing down its Bedford Square abortion facility in London. Local pro-life groups are celebrating the good news that one of BPAS’s main abortion facilities will close up shop this month.

UPDATE: McCullogh tells LifeNews: “BPAS are now saying the facility will remain open but they will be doing vasectomies etc and they won’t be doing abortions. Which still says to me their abortion “clinic” is closing.”

Claire McCullogh of The Good Counsel Network informed LifeNews today of the closing:

The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) are closing down their Abortion Centre in Bedford Square at the end of June.

It was at this Bedford Square Abortion Centre that “40 Days for Life” held prayer vigils twice a year over the last three years, and where they held an evening Vigil attended by Bishop Alan Hopes, which was protested in a rather aggressive fashion by Bloomsbury Pro-Choice.

This BPAS Centre has had a vigil – following the Helpers of God’s Precious Infants approach -outside it for the best part of 13 years at least. I first remember it being manned by Christine and Lucy, and then after Christine left London, Lucy, Sarah and Matthew. The amazing Lucy travelling down week after week, year after year, from Oxford to keep that vigil going. Lucy remembers joining the vigil in about 2001 and says when she came there were some Catholic students, Lisa, Edoardo and Clem, living locally who were already running a vigil there.

Later on Josephine Quintavalle organised a service of Remembrance for the children who had died at Bedford Square, where – if memory serves me correctly – participants wore black and stood silently, praying for the lost children.

In December 2005, impressed by the commitment of the Saturday vigil participants and their on-going struggle to offer women alternatives, we ran a 9 day novena of prayer at the same abortion centre, ending on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadelupe, 12th December. As well as providing a constant prayerful presence while the abortion Centre was open, we offered alternatives to women entering.

One young woman, a lapsed Catholic, was entering BPAS during this Novena of prayer, on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, 8th December, when Fr Martin Edwards arrived there. She stopped and spoke to a volunteer from the Helpers of God’s Precious Infants, who brought her to speak to Fr. Edwards. Just after that, Bishop Longley arrived, he was attending the Novena on behalf of Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor.

 The young woman then came and spoke to him. She said “I asked God for a sign if He wanted me to keep my baby, but I told Him it had better be a big one, or I won’t be sure!”. We assured her that Bishop’s don’t go to abortion clinics everyday, and she accepted this as her sign from God. She decided to keep the baby, which she did, with offers of help from us. She later came back and offered help to other mums who come to our Centre.
We are still financially supporting a number of women who have turned around from this particular Abortion Centre as well as others around London. We have recently had to pay quite a large amount of money for repairs to a flat where one of the Mothers and her children live.

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Why is BPAS closing? They say they are amalgamating with their Stratford branch. There is no word about dropping client numbers, or falling profits. I cannot pretend to know the reasons why the are choosing to close.

I would imagine from my own experience with women, that they will lose a number of “clients” by this move. Abortion Centres have said in the past that as many as a third of their “clients” don’t show up already. Women considering abortion often change their mind from moment to moment, and for some of them, the further they have to travel, the less likely they are to get there.

But whatever the human reasons for their move, I do also believe that the prayers, fasting, sacrificial giving of time and effort, have helped in removing this terrible industry from Bedford Square. The fact that abortions will no longer go on at this site is a blessing.