On Saturday we had our witness again, and again the 'pro-choice' people joined us. In fact they were there before we, and took up a central position where we normally stand. We start with Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, so don't gather where we are going to stand, but in the church next to it.
It didn't matter too much. We had to bunch together more, but that helped us keep the Rosary going against the sound of their amplified music.
There were 50 of us, and nine or ten of them. That didn't include people praying in front of the Blessed Sacrament all the time we were out there.
The police kept them in order, more or less.
Here is a video of a little confrontation between one of them and our cameraman.
We ended the vigil with Benediction.
Caroline Farrow points out that, in the campaign against abortion, prayer is never wasted. The reaction of the pro-abortionists to our little group (their presence has doubled our numbers), like their reaction to Bishop Hopes leading prayers outside the Bedford Square clinic for 40 Days for Life, suggests that, as some level, they agree. As a matter of political impact, at the very small scale at which we are able to operate in Oxford the prayer witness has had a remarkably big effect in galvanising pro-lifers, in raising awarness of the issue locally and further afield, in presenting pro-lifers as peaceful and reasonable, and allowing the pro-abortion activists to present themselves as aggressive and unpleasant. It has, in short, been a huge success.
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