A very distressing phone call yesterday... A young man claimed that his girlfriend was being forced to have an abortion - by her family and her church! Quietly spoken, he told me that they had had to move away from their hometown, and were living in one room, found by Shelter. If they did not go ahead with the abortion, they would be cut off from the church and the family.
So, what kind of family is that.... and what kind of church? Well, I don't know about the family, but the church turned out to be the Scientologists. He claimed that the church itself was paying for the abortion, and that it was scheduled for today. They had spoken to LIFE, who had offered accommodation, clothing etc for mother and baby etc, and SPUC too, but he and his girlfriend could not face banishment, and so the help offered by the charities - and anything I could do - was in their eyes "too late".
Ironically, he claimed that if she were 24 weeks pregnant instead of 19, then the Council would have to offer them accommodation, but they have nothing. He would not divulge his address as he didn't want anyone "knocking at the door". What he wanted was my prayers, but his own parting shot was that he and God were "finished".
As regards the Church of Scientology, I know little about them. All I will say is that their website claims that nothing of this sort ever happens. However, search for "Scientology" and "Abortion" and a different picture seems to emerge...
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