Just as earlier brave culture warriors – usually Christians – fought the evil slave trade, so too today some heroic believers are putting their life on the line for the unborn. Here is part of Graham’s latest story:
“A father of seven children will spend 8 months in jail starting Wednesday as a result of his efforts to the defend the unborn. It is the longest jail-term ever received by an Australian pro-life activist. Graham Preston, 56, was called by police last week to arrange a time for his arrest. He negotiated to move it back from 8am to 9am this coming Wednesday, May 2, so he would have enough time to get his children to school.
“Mr. Preston will serve 232 days in prison – seeing him out just in time for Christmas – for refusing to pay roughly $8000 in fines that have accumulated after ten years of non-violently blocking the entrances of four abortion clinics around Brisbane.
“Since beginning non-violent direct action with the group Protect Life almost exactly ten years ago (April 16, 2002), Mr. Preston has endured more than ten months in jail over five separate jail-terms – mostly in Brisbane’s maximum security Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre.
“The warrant for Mr. Preston’s arrest came after he received a letter from the Queensland Justice Department telling him he had until April 6 – coincidentally, Good Friday – to pay the fines or else face prison. Mr. Preston refuses to pay the fines on principle, arguing that trying to save the innocent from harm should not be regarded as criminal behaviour.”
The article continues, “Two years ago, Mr. Preston wrote on his website: ‘Going to jail is of course not a desirable thing, either for the person who does so, or for their family who may be very directly negatively affected. Yet our conviction is that this is probably an unavoidable part of seeing the value of all human lives given proper recognition. When anyone pays a very high price for something, it makes everyone ask the question, is it worth it? That is what we want our society to be asking, what are preborn babies worth? We want to say that babies’ lives are worth a person’s, or even many persons’, freedom.’
“Warwick Marsh, the National Co-ordinator of the Canberra Declaration, said: ‘Graham is one of Australia’s great heroes, truly putting the kids of Australia first. He is being unjustly imprisoned for his peaceful protests, while murderers and rapists walk free from our court systems and jails’.”
His wife Liz has also written about this latest stint in prison: “In the minds of some, if the mother or parents of a preborn child decide that they want to have an abortion, then their child loses absolutely all right to have their life protected. But not everyone is prepared to simply turn away and abandon such children to death. And not without good reason either.When one considers the amount of truly guilty people getting off because of compromised court rooms and magistrates it gives an indication of where our society stands.
I pray for such strength.
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