Pro-life campaigner says he’ll keep speaking for the vulnerable

The Press ran a feature article on Mr Orr earlier this month, describing him as unofficially the newspaper’s biggest enemy, while at the same time being its biggest fan.

Now in his 90s, Christchurch-based Mr Orr has been a subscriber to The Press for 60 years.

In the last decade, he has taken the newspaper or its stablemates to the Media Council 13 times.

But, in the feature article, he said that he has had “a warm relationship with The Press”.

 “I’m passionately supportive of the freedom of the press, and I want to see The Press prosper and do the job it’s meant to be doing as the fourth estate.”

Not all of his 600 letters to the editor were printed.

A recent letter that was published lamented a potential law change for “advance directives” to allow people, particularly dementia patients, to pre-emptively consent to assisted dying before they lose competency.

Mr Orr said that he was surprised at the total of 600 letters, adding that he didn’t like to make complaints, but did see it as his duty to point out errors and to present a better stance.

“I do it with the idea of trying to encourage The Press to be unbiased and to present the truth to the community,” he said.

Mr Orr, who sees himself as a frustrated journalist, believes his efforts are not futile, and he is not deterred, despite the cultural tide seemingly flowing against him.

He sees abortion as “the human rights issue of our era”.

The article noted that Mr Orr attends Mass at St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral on Manchester Street six days a week. He also spends an hour in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament on those days.

FULL STORY

A matter of life and death ‒ the crusade of anti-abortionist Ken Orr | The Press (By Michael Wright/The Press)