Pro-lifers assaulted while collecting signatures against abortion

Madrid, Spain, Apr 28, 2009 / 13:24 pm

On Saturday, April 25, three volunteers of the Right to Life organization and a Chilean in the town of El Ferrol were victims a brutal assault by a group of seven young people who attacked them as they were collecting signatures against the law on abortion sponsored by the Socialist government.

Gador Joya, the organization’s spokeswoman, is demanding the attack be condemned by federal officials in the province of Galicia and that they bring the assailants to justice.

“Once again we see the lack of arguments of those who defend the most radical positions: intolerance and violence have no place in a state based on the rule of law,” she said.
 
“Unfortunately, these acts have taken place after the Minister of Equality herself (Bibiana Aido) expressed scorn for those of us who civilly express our rejection of their legal reform of abortion and who have been labeled ‘fundamentalists.’” This poor example by Aido, said Joya, “speaks very little of the prudence that every leader ought to have, especially in order to discourage violence by the most extreme groups, such as that which we suffered today in El Ferrol.”
 
The president of the watchdog website HazteOir.org, Ignacio Arsuaga, expressed solidarity with the pro-life activists and said, “No matter how much they threaten us, hit us or insult us, they will not stop us.  Acts like these only reaffirm our convictions, which we defend with absolute civility and in accord with our right to freedom of expression, in response to those who make violence their only argument.”
 
Jaime Dias, one of the victims of the assault, said from the hospital where he is recovering that he was not disheartened by the incident. “I am fine, I did my duty by following what my conscience told me,” he said.  “Whenever they let me know, I will go back on the streets to collect signatures. Nobody is going to silence me with violence,” he said.