Harley St Abortion Clinics to be banned

Background briefing: the Howard de Walden Estate, which owns many of the properties in London's Harley Street, is establishing the policy that in future it will not grant leases to abortion clinics.

Comment: although this might appear an admirable attempt by the landlords to avoid material co-operation in evil, the ostestible motivation is simply to underpin the reputation of Harley St as a location for medical excellence by easing out practicioners doing boring, day-to-day procedures, such as abortion and cosmetic surgery. This being so, the only real interest here is the hysterical reaction of the pro-abortion groups. Their suggestion that the de Waldon Estate is motivated by a desire to 'impose' religious or moral views on others is less likely to be simple paranoia than something more calculated: an attempt to establish the principle that the provision of abortion is a sacrosanct part of medical practice. They want to make closing an abortionist as politically difficult as closing a clinic for sick children.

For the BBC story, see here.