Pro-life speaker suffers ‘verbal abuse’ as students try to shut down event

Pro-life students at the University of Manchester had to receive police protection when a “screaming pro-abortion mob” tried to shut down an event.

Madeline Page, Director of Great Britain’s Alliance of Pro-Life Students, needed a police escort to enable her to gain access to a building where she was speaking as protestors “screaming” abuse at her attempted to deny her access. After chairing a discussion on her pro-life beliefs, she was forced to take transport back to a different location as it was “too dangerous” to go straight to her hotel.

Earlier this year, Manchester Pro-Life Society was forced to move location three times to complete its presentation, as hundreds of activists shouting chants such as “stay in there and die” and “you should be aborted” attempted to cancel the event.

Police

Page said: “This was an opportunity for any student, whatever they think about abortion, to ask questions and for me to explain why I am pro-life. I gave 15 minutes of input followed by an hour of discussion. Before the event even started though, I knew there were going to be problems.”

She explained that there was a “hate campaign” before she even arrived at the university, and when the protestors saw her they began swearing at her.

When the talk finished, she said: “I was separated from the rest of the group and swarmed by students hurling verbal abuse. The police had to form a physical barrier between the mob and me for my protection.”

Inge, a member of the Manchester Pro-Life Society, commented: “It’s so concerning that they’ve whipped themselves up into such a frenzy that they won’t even listen to what their opposition has to say. They must have so little confidence in their own arguments that they have to scream down ours.”

Rape

When Manchester Pro-Life Society was first formed in January, it received messages accusing its members of being “disgusting” and “horrible”.

During one of their first meetings as a society, students were egged, spat at and threatened.

Inge said: “It’s unthinkable that at a university – where we are meant to discuss and debate important ideas about life and society – my peers and I have been threatened, spat on, barricaded and wished death upon simply for our peaceful beliefs.

“Some students even said they hoped I would be raped.”