Christian Concern Reports
Campaigner Seeks Legal Relief after London Censure
Christian Hacking, 31, an employee of the Centre for Bio-ethical Reform UK (CBR UK) has sought legal relief from the Administrative High Court.
In October 2019, Mr Hacking, while leading a group of pro-life campaigners, was issued with a Community Protection Notice (CPN) by Waltham Forest Council for showing images of foetuses in MP Stella Creasy’s constituency.
One large display juxtaposed Stella Creasy’s head with the comment “your MP is working hard ….” The other banner had an image of a 22-week-old aborted female foetus with the logo #StopStella along with the heading “….to make this a human right.” Underneath there was a description which said: “24-week aborted baby girl”.
The educational displays were put up in Walthamstow as part of a #StopStella campaign aimed at exposing the reality Miss Creasy’s proposed policies through which she seeks to allow abortion on demand with none of the remaining protections of the 1967 Act.
This would allow abortions up until 28 weeks. Miss Creasy is one of the leading and most vocal supporters of decriminalisation of abortion in parliament.
In response to the campaign, Miss Creasy demanded the police and local council intervene.
The police refused as they said no crime had been committed. However, council officials, who later admitted in court to acting unlawfully and being out of their depth, shut down and confiscated the displays and issued Mr Hacking with a CPN. Ms Creasy hailed their actions as ‘heroic’.
The notice is believed to be the first borough-wide censorship on displaying the medically verified images of unborn and aborted babies. Breaching the notice is a criminal offence.
Waltham Forest Council claimed that the images were responsible for “unreasonable behaviour that was persistent in nature” and had “a detrimental effect on the quality of life of others.”
