From gratitude to threats during the street campaign against abortion

On 28 September, volunteers from TFP Student Action Europe in The Hague and Amsterdam took to the streets to pray and protest against abortion. The street campaign clearly provoked a range of reactions, from people buying them a beer to threats.

Dolle Mina’s

During the campaign in The Hague, there were two notable encounters with the Dolle Mina’s. The Dolle Mina's are a feminist group that has pushed since the 70s for the killing of the innocent. The first was with a woman known to the TFP members. She had also been present at other street campaigns, where she had previously sprayed volunteers with a water pistol. Another Dolle Mina argued that sexual behaviour has become very immoral these days and that people should be ashamed of it. Strikingly, she did not draw the conclusion that repentance is necessary and continued to support abortion as a supposed solution to that very same immoral sexual behaviour.

Lots of emotion, few arguments

Several people approached the volunteers from a highly emotional perspective. They did not seem prepared for rational arguments and were therefore often unwilling to engage in a genuine discussion. “But what if it’s a case of rape?” was one of the most common objections. Pro-abortion advocates exploit this highly emotional perspective to justify abortion in all other cases as well. When this is exposed, abortion activists often resort to insults.

Insults and blasphemies

In Amsterdam, a deeply irritated man cycled past. He hurled abuse at our volunteers, swore and even uttered blasphemies. A deep hatred emanated from his words. When one of our volunteers confronted him with the harsh reality of abortion – which the man had obscured with his choice of words – the man replied: “I think it’s a mortal sin and absolutely terrifying that you’re wasting your time on this! Get on with your lives!” As if defending God’s most vulnerable children were a waste of time.

A serious threat

In one specific instance, things went far beyond verbal abuse and blasphemy. One young man made a very serious threat. He first insulted the mother of one of the volunteers and said she should be raped. The man also said he would keep an eye on the volunteer and attack him if he was alone.

Many positive reactions too

Fortunately, our volunteers did not have to deal with insults and threats alone. A group of Indonesian women expressed their admiration and gratitude for what the volunteers were doing and gave thanks to God. One of our volunteers struck up a conversation with a woman who had recently converted to the Catholic faith. At a confirmation ceremony, she had seen members of our group standing next to the bishop. She asked if we were those same people. When our volunteer confirmed this, she was very impressed. Overall, there were many positive reactions.

How many of you are there?

A Surinamese couple approached one of the TFP volunteers and asked him: “How many of you are there?” It wasn’t clear what the man was getting at with that question, and our volunteer responded cautiously. When the man kept insisting and our volunteer asked him why he wanted to know, the Surinamese man said: “No, we’d like to offer each of you a beer to show how much we support your efforts.” The number of volunteers was then confirmed, and a few minutes later the couple did indeed return with a can of beer for each of the volunteers. They then explained that they had recently converted and wanted to get involved in future campaigns and events.

A good start to a worthwhile week

All in all, this first day of a week of campaigning was a wonderful start. Despite a number of negative reactions and even threats, there were many positive interactions and good conversations in both The Hague and Amsterdam. Even on World Safe Abortion Day, the counter-protest was not very large. Throughout this week, our volunteers are raising awareness of the unborn child across the Netherlands and Flanders. They are praying and campaigning against abortion and against attempts to remove abortion from criminal law. May God bless their efforts!

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This article was first published on Stirezo Pro-life.