The Telegraph reports that a pro-life campaigner has launched a test case against the BBC by refusing to pay her licence fee because of what she sees as the corporation's support for abortion.
Veronica Connolly, a practising Catholic, claims she is entitled to withhold her payment because the BBC has in the past "censored" a graphic election broadcast from the Pro-Life Alliance, the anti-abortion group.
Mrs Connolly, 53, a grandmother from Birmingham, is being prosecuted for the non-payment of her £139.50 television licence for 2008-9. The anti-abortion campaigner has instructed Paul Diamond, the leading religious rights barrister, to act for her. He will use a ruling from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to support her action that the compulsory payment of the licence fee has breached, or violated, her "conscience".
In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Mrs Connolly said yesterday: "I want to highlight that the BBC has become the mouthpiece of the Government, which is generally very pro-abortion. "We get pro-abortion propaganda thrust down our throats and it's time someone said 'no, enough'."
Mrs Connolly, who has been an anti-abortion campaigner for the past six years, added: "Abortion is the biggest human rights issue of our day." In a crime drama screened last year called Hunter, the BBC portrayed anti-abortionists kidnapping and killing children. This representation outraged pro-life campaigners and resulted in numerous complaints.
Mrs Connolly, who is disabled and uses a wheelchair after suffering from ME for 22 years, hopes her case will be heard later this year. If she is convicted, she will take it through the courts on appeal to highlight what she sees as an injustice....
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