An Australian woman and her husband were paid $1,000 by pro-life demonstrators not to go through with a planned abortion, reports The Age.
The paper, quoting abortion clinic officials, says a group of pro-life activists approached the middle-aged couple as they were approaching the Marie Stopes clinic in Brisbane, Australia, last month.
A clinic staffer says the couple, who reportedly were having financial difficulties, were given “false and misleading information” about the effects of an abortion on future fertility, complications associated with the procedure and the risk of breast cancer, according to the report.
Clinic personnel found out about the incident when the woman two weeks later went to the Children by Choice facility for counseling.
The pro-choice activists condemned the practice of paying a woman to bring her baby to term.
“It is morally inexcusable manipulation of what is a private decision,” the paper quotes Melbourne University ethicist Leslie Cannold as saying. “It sounds like this money turned this man’s head and it may be that he was particularly vulnerable to that kind of offer.”
Clinic personnel claim the woman was not necessarily in favor of taking the money.
“She has mixed feelings. They made the (abortion) decision together and the anti-choice protest had a particular effect on her husband in relation to him changing his mind,” said Cait Calcutt, according to The Age.
“I am worried about the implications for women who have chosen to exercise their choice to have a termination of pregnancy,” Suzanne Dvorak, Marie Stokes International clinic manager, told the paper. “It is not an easy decision to make and it is one that they have made carefully, and I think to have that questioned at such a crucial time is very unfair.”
Reportedly, the police were contacted over concerns over breach of privacy.
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WND Staff