Pickets close NI pregnancy advisory association

The Ulster Pregnancy Advisory Association has closed after more than 20 years, following picketing of its counsellors' homes and the vandalism of its Belfast headquarters.

The association's head office on the Lisburn Road was broken into early on July 13th and a fire was started. Precious Life, the Northern Irish affiliate of Youth Defence, welcomed the UPAA's closure, calling it a "great victory for direct action". Ms Bernadette Smyth, chairwoman of Precious Life, said her organisation had been holding pickets at the homes of UPAA counsellors.

The UPAA had offered non-directive pregnancy counselling. Among the options it highlighted to women with crisis pregnancies was abortion. It had one office in Belfast and seven counsellors in other areas, who operated on a voluntary basis from their homes.

None of the UPAA's counsellors was willing to talk about the closure. But Ms Audrey Simpson, of the Family Planning Association in Belfast, confirmed that the UPAA was "closing, at least temporarily", after the attack on its Belfast office.

She said its director, Ms Joan Wilson, was distressed and would "not be making any press statement for the time being."

Ms Smyth said pickets by Precious Life had "exposed" counsellors "to their neighbours". A picket at the home of Ms Joyce Burell in Portstewart in July last year resulted in the arrest of several Precious Life members. Ms Burell retired from the UPAA following the incident.

"We succeeded in closing down three of the counsellors, in Portstewart, Lisburn and in Belfast," said Ms Smyth. "We'd distribute leaflets around the area where they lived, with the address of the counsellor.

"We wouldn't give the name as well as the address, because that's against the law. Then we'd picket the house and if we saw any women going in we'd approach them and give them information about the abortion procedure."

Precious Life was founded in September 1996. According to Ms Smyth, it was started in response to the "threat of legalised abortion in Northern Ireland". It had 2,000 members, she said. It continues to picket the Belfast Family Planning Association.