[4] Nessa first gained attention for his anti-abortion views after a speech he held on 17 May 1984, the national day of Norway, in which he compared abortion to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
[5] In 1987, he founded the "New Life Action" (Aksjon Nytt Liv) along with fellow priest Børre Knudsen in order to stage protests against abortion.
[7] In 1999 Nessa went into "church asylum" at a Gospel Hall as he was due to serve time in prison for refusing to pay fines received for his anti-abortion protests.
[10] For the 2005 and 2009 parliamentary elections Nessa headed the Abortion Opponents' List along with Ivar Kristianslund, Per Kørner and Børre Knudsen.
As part of an annual rally against abortion on the date of its legalisation in Norway, 13 June, Nessa and his followers had previously routinely "banished" the government quarter that was eventually bombed on 22 July 2011.