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Thursday January 18, 2007
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Woman Fined for Sending Abortion Pictures to Pharmacy to Go Before UK High Court Next Week
Willing to go to prison if the court threatens her with sentencing
By Gudrun Schultz
LONDON, United Kingdom, January 18, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A wheelchair bound grandmother who was prosecuted last May for distributing images of aborted babies to local pharmacies will appear before the UK High Court Jan. 23, after she refused to pay a fine following her conviction.
Veronica Connolly, 50, a member of the UK LifeLeague, sent pictures of aborted babies to pharmacies in Birmingham, to protest the sale of the morning-after pill. Connolly was charged with sending “offensive” material through the mail. When she was found guilty by the local court and ordered to pay a fine, she refused on grounds of conscience, and her case was then sent to the high court.
She has said she will not back down over the incident and is willing to go to prison if the court threatens her with sentencing, according to a LifeLeague statement released earlier this week.
In a separate case heard by the local court on the same day in May, a 74-year-old man was fined £500 and sentenced to four weeks in prison for sending similar images to staff at the Queen Elizabeth hospital, and given a further two weeks jail-time for refusing to pay a fine of £650 from a 2002 conviction for a similar action.
Edward Atkinson was also given a five-year anti-social behavior order, and told if he breached the order he would face up to five years in prison.
The Queen Elizabeth hospital removed the elderly man from a waiting list for a hip replacement after the incident, and issued a policy directive denying him all but emergency care.
LifeLeague Coordinator Jim Dowson said at the time of the pair’s initial conviction, "They are the first martyrs and they certainly won't be the last. This is the beginning of the firming up of our campaign ... Unless we do things like [this] we won't get the issue taken seriously.”
The UK LifeLeague is requesting local supporters to participate in a “silent, dignified” protest in front of the High Court during Ms. Connolly’s hearing.
See previous LifeSiteNews coverage:
74-Year-Old UK Pro-Lifer Jailed, Denied Health Care for Sending Abortion Pics to Hospital
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/may/06050904.html
Criminal Charges for Showing Abortion Pictures Violate Freedom of Speech Rights: Editor of NRO
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jul/06070403.html
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