ANTI-ABORTION protesters stood in silence in Ashford to mark the 35th anniversary of the legalisation of abortion.

Members of the Folkestone and Hythe, Ashford, Thanet and Dover branches of the Society For The Protection Of The Unborn Child stood in a silent chain on the Ashford Road near to Norton Knatchbull school on Saturday.

Around 30 people formed the chain as part of the two-hour peaceful protest, which was part of an annual national pro-life vigil.

Ashford was chosen as the site for the demonstration as it has a high rate of teenage pregnancy.

Folkestone and Hythe chairman Philippa Forsdike said: "We did get a good response from most people. It was amazing how many toots and thumbs up we got from passing cars.

"This is such an enormous issue especially as teenage sex is widely encouraged nowadays even in schools with the availability of the morning after pill and contraception to underage girls.

"By legalising abortion people think on a superficial level that it is ok but we are saying it is not an easy way out.

"More than six million women in this country have had an abortion and research shows that post abortion trauma is becoming a well recognised thing by psychiatrists.

"The grieving process often doesn't hit women until 10 or 15 years later. It is usually when they go on to have other children that it really hits them.

"At the time people think they can't cope with a child now and they will just have another one one day but we are all genetically different, that child will never live again. It is unseen barbarism.

"People think we are a single issue group but we do have societies best interests at heart."

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