A woman who personally had been impacted by sidewalk counseling now fights for the right to counsel pregnant women like she once was.
Alina Dulgheriu, a member of the Be Here For Me campaign against abortion, recently lost a High Court appeal challenging a buffer zone in Ealing, London, that prevents pro-lifers from reaching out to women outside abortion facilities, according to The Catholic Universe.
Dulgheriu opened up about why she fights for the right to reach out to pregnant women via sidewalk counseling, for she had once considered getting an abortion herself.
She said she had planned to get an abortion because she felt like she did not have any other options.
“I was devastated because I could never have imagined having an abortion, but I couldn’t find the support I needed to continue my pregnancy,” she said.
Dulgheriu then planned to go to an abortion clinic, thinking her mind was made up.
“So I made my choice, but once I walked through that gate, there was a woman there saying, ‘we can offer you help’. Then I felt that I did have a choice. I can choose, yes or no. I chose not to go ahead with the abortion because I was given another option by the woman at the gate,” she said.
Today, Dulgheriu attends vigils with her daughter, praying rosaries and offering women a chance to reconsider abortion. However, there have been roadblocks that make it more difficult for this life-saving work to happen.
In April, the Ealing Council in west London unanimously approved the 100-meter (328 foot) buffer zone to prohibit pro-life outreach around a Marie Stopes abortion facility in the city. Those who violate the buffer zone could face fines or jail time.
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An announcement on abortion buffer zones is expected from Home Secretary Sajid Javid next month in England, and there have been calls for national legislation that follows the model of Ealing’s abortion buffer zone.
Marie Stopes, the clinic in Ealing that performs abortions, has a long record of dangerous health and safety violations, as well as allegations of giving staff incentives to sell abortions.
It has an egregious reputation, having botched nearly 400 abortions in a two-month period in 2017, according to the British Care Quality Commission. In 2016, inspectors found such horrible conditions that the British government temporarily shut down some of the abortion chain’s operations.
The Care Quality Commission found evidence that Marie Stopes also was pressuring women to have abortions by incentivizing staff with bonuses.
Those in support of the buffer zone claim it is necessary to protect women from harassment, but Dulgheriu denied there was any harassment or intimidation of staff or patients.
“We are just three people holding a rosary and my daughter was playing…There’s nothing shocking or graphic on the leaflets. My daughter saw the picture of the developing baby on the leaflet and she said ‘Mummy, look – it’s a baby’, then she knelt down and kissed the picture,” she said.
