The anti-abortion campaign group Abort67 held a demonstration on Thursday afternoon outside Senate House, provoking a condemnation and a counter protest organised by CUSU’s Women’s Campaign.

The delegation from Abort67 hung images of aborted foetuses on the railings around Senate House, but was heavily outnumbered by the counter-protest which had been organised to challenge the group.

The anti-abortion campaign group, which describes itself as a non-religious organisation, was invited to Cambridge by Manuel Ngochinya, a student at Anglia Ruskin University. He said the protesters were “motivated by love for all people”: “The aim of this display is to expose the truth of abortion and engage the public in peaceful discussion. We want to change hearts and minds and uncover what has long been hidden behind social ignorance and misinformation.”

Audrey Sebatindira, Women’s Officer at CUSU, told Varsity that the Women’s Campaign was “by definition pro-choice”.

She continued, “The basic point is that to seek to deprive someone of abortion is to seek to deprive them of their bodily autonomy and basic right to dignity. Getting rid of legal abortions doesn’t get rid of abortions. It just forces women to have illegal and unsafe abortions. We didn’t want them to hold up their signs and express a toxic message without being unchallenged.”

Abortion debate sparks protest

One of the most contentious aspects of the Abort67 demonstration was the graphic nature of the images it displayed. Sebatindira explained that she had decided to marshall the counter-protest in part because of the “horrible images that we knew Abort67 would project”.

While the Abort 67 claimed the images they displayed were accurate, the pro-choice group were keen to point out the images provided unrealistic and distressing representations of the abortion process. One protester told Varsity she was “pretty sure” the images weren’t real, and continued, “It’s horrific that they can have that out there in the public space for people to see, children to see”.

Speaking to Varsity, Ruth Rawlins, the London coordinator for Abort67, said the group were averse to calling their demonstration a protest, instead describing it as a “public education display.” She explained that the group were “not actually making an opinion,” but sought to “show the reality of abortion”