UPDATE: After calling the clinic in Sydney, we’ve decided to visit on Monday instead of today, when only staff will be present. We’ll still be live tweeting and will post about the delivery next week.
When two friends in the UK noticed a group of pro-life supporters outside their local abortion clinic silently maintaining a vigil, they decided to act.
A counter protest didn’t seem right – why draw attention to the protesters and further upset women going to clinic? What they wanted to do was something for the people inside the clinic; the staff, and the women accessing services who would be most affected.
They decided on treats. Jaffa cakes, doughnuts, flowers and yo yos. Every day for 40 days they took the treats to the organisation to give something back to the people “that provide excellent services and don’t deserve people on their doorstep being annoying.”
“Let’s make people happy” was the message the two women – Carmen D’Cruz and Liz Lutgendorff – wrote on their website, which they named 40 Days of Treats.
We ran a post about the ‘ultimate act of defiance‘ at the time arguing that it was one of the best forms of protest we’d ever heard.
So when we heard those same pro-life campaigners – who go by the name 40 Days for Life – would be holding vigils around clinics in Australia from tomorrow, we wondered what we could do.
Answer: bake. Just like the women in the UK, we’re planning to show our support by baking cakes.
More about that in a sec, but first – here’s some info about the group that call themselves 40 Days for Life.
What is 40 Days for Life?
They’re a Texas-born anti-abortion group is preparing to spend the 40 days of Lent praying outside abortion clinics around the world.