MILITANT pro-life group is set to target Wirral abortion clinics and advice centres in a bid to close them down, it has emerged.

The radical Scottish group Precious Life is planning to come down to Merseyside and use their own brand of 'direct action' at Wirral abortion providers.

Leader of the group Jim Dawson told Globe: "We don't court good public relations; we are only interested in getting the job done. We are a non-violent group but we take direct action.

"We will be providing people with information to show them the realities of abortion. We will regularly picket hospitals and family planning clinics. There are an awful lot of young people involved in our group and we are committed to making people aware that abortion is murder."

Precious Life started in the Republic of Ireland as Youth Defenders. A group was then formed in Northern Ireland and renamed Precious Life before also forming a branch in Scotland. Now the Scottish group says it has been invited to Merseyside by pro-life individuals.

As for Precious Life's work in Ireland, Dublin Abortion Rights Group member Aileen O'Carroll says: "Precious Life succeeded, following a campaign of intimidation, in closing down the Ulster Pregnancy Advisory Association. The association had been in existence for 20 years. They took the decision to close their doors following picketing of the homes of their counsellors, who were all volunteers."

When asked about the fact that the Belfast clinics' head office was set alight, Mr Dawson said: "We managed to close down every clinic in Belfast - all seven of them. One of the clinics was built on the peace line and on July 12 (the day of the Orange marches) it was burnt down. It is a red herring to say that we were involved. Our group is made up of very respectable young people.

"We are devout Christians and if you are a Christian you have to be opposed to abortion. We have been going for eight years and we have never been involved in violence. We want to reach out to women."

Harriet Gill is manager of Birkenhead's Brook Advisory Centre, on Whetstone Lane, which advises young people on sexual and health issues. She said: "We want to make sure people feel confident that they will be safe coming to us. We are keen to make sure that intimidation tactics will not stop us from working.

"The group's tactics are horrible. They wear black cloaks, carry baby's coffins and hold mock funerals outside clinics. They scream hysterically at people and can be very intimidating.

"If people are worried, though, they should call us. We understand they will be targeting all abortion providers and not just Brook. We would like to offer our support to all those centres.

"We are pro-choice and believe that it is a woman's right to choose. We are appalled by the use of these tactics and condemn their actions altogether."

A spokesperson for the British Pregnancy Advisory Service said: "We have a lot of experience of dealing with the group in Glasgow, where they have been active for some time. We are aware that they have threatened to move into Merseyside and London.

"We always take any threats of protest seriously and always take the security of our staff and confidentiality of our clients extremely seriously.

"We are always aware of the possibility that people may go a bit over the top and procedures are in place. We will be keeping an eye on what Mr Dawson is doing.

"He has already promised to put the names and addresses of people involved in abortions on his website but it hasn't happened yet. We are urging people not to get too excited."

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