Silence is abortion's best friend.

Don’t Speak of It?! Silencing an abortion debate:

In England, you can have an abortion for just about any reason. But one thing you evidently can’t do is talk about what abortion is — or at least show the bloody truth through images.

A 74-year-old man named Edward Atkinson recently spent four weeks in prison for sending an executive at Norfolk’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital “very upsetting” images and literature (and they were) in an effort, Atkinson said, “to educate” her about the abortion procedures done at her facility. On the same day Atkinson was sentenced, a wheelchair-bound woman was convicted for sending similar pictures to pharmacies that stock the “morning-after pill.”

... if had he asked me, I would have advised Atkinson to approach matters — and the hospital official — differently. But I do know about the undeniable power of images. Anyone who is pregnant right now or has been pregnant in recent years knows, in an intimate way, the visual power of the miracle of life seen through “windows on the womb.” And although I’ve made my general hesitance to opt for the show end of show-and-tell known when it comes to abortion, I would never want to see that option eliminated.

... A judge told Atkinson that “it is clear that you intended to shock and I am certain your purpose was to cause distress and anxiety.” Well, I for one am shocked, distressed, and anxious — not just because abortion is legal there, and here across the pond, but because of this apparent governmentally enforced conspiracy of silence. The Atkinson files reveal a real case of aborting free speech. Abortion defenders may not agree on the underlying issue — but can’t we all muster outrage over attempts to avoid discussing the details of the issue?

(Emailed from my mom. Thanks.)