Image Source: Instagram / @letschangetheact
The Scottish Greens have called for abortion to be decriminalised in Scotland “as soon as possible,” using the farcically named ‘International Safe Abortion Day’ to demand that the Scottish Government press ahead with proposals which would allow abortion up-to-birth in the country.
Scottish Green health spokeswoman Kayleigh Kinross-O’Neill urged ministers to begin their promised consultation on recommendations made by the Scottish Abortion Law Review Group, saying abortion should be treated “like any other healthcare procedure.”
“In modern Scotland, there should be no criminal offences for anyone ending their own pregnancy,” Kinross-O’Neill said. “It is outrageous that they still exist.
But what the Greens describe as “modernising” abortion law is more than just a change in language.
The Scottish Government-commissioned review recommended that abortion should be available without any specified legal grounds before 24 weeks, removing the existing requirement for two doctors to certify an abortion. Beyond 24 weeks, it proposes that two healthcare professionals should be able to approve an abortion simply where they decide in good faith that it is “appropriate”, taking account of medical, psychological, and social circumstances.
The group also recommends that “there should be no offences for anyone ending their own pregnancy,” with relevant common-law offences repealed. It also recommends repealing Scotland’s concealment of birth offence and placing a positive duty upon Scottish Ministers and health boards to provide abortion services, effectively creating a statutory “right to abortion.”
SPUC has previously condemned the proposals as “disastrous and destructive.” Taken together, the recommendations would leave unborn children with zero legal protection.
The Greens made their intervention on ‘International Safe Abortion Day,’ held annually on 28th September. As part of this year’s campaign, buildings across Europe were illuminated green in support of abortion, including the Edinburgh International Conference Centre. The colour is associated with Latin America’s pro-abortion “Green Wave,” which has subsequently become an international symbol of the abortion-rights movement.
Pro-lifers in the DUP managed to halt a green illumination of Belfast’s City Hall, with grassroots activists gathering outside an unlit hall to celebrate the victory.
The contrast between describing abortion simply as “healthcare” and removing criminal penalties at any gestation is particularly significant when considered alongside cases in which women have deliberately ended pregnancies far beyond the legal abortion limit.
One of the most notorious British examples is Sarah Catt, who was jailed in 2012 after taking an abortion drug while 39 weeks pregnant. Catt had obtained the drug online after lying about the stage of her pregnancy. Her judge explained that her actions were tantamount to murder, with only the law stopping him from sentencing her as such.
The Greens are manipulating language to usher in a legal change that would give Scotland the world’s most barbaric abortion regime and allow women like Catt of the hook. SPUC calls on the Scottish Government to scrap the abortion law review and instead implement our Five Asks.
In a recent episode of SPUC TV’s Heart to Heart our Scottish Parliamentary Officer Chris McEleny explained why those asks would benefit mothers and babies in Scotland.
SPUC’s Communications Manager Peter Kearney commented on this story, saying: “The Scottish Greens know what they are doing, but are dancing around the truth with words like ‘decriminalise’ and ‘healthcare.’ They should speak in terms every Scottish person can understand: they want abortion up-to-birth for any reason without consequence.”
He continued, “While the Edinburgh International Conference Centre was lit up in a vain display about ‘liberation,’ those applauding on the pavement outside were cheering for the destruction of nine-month-old babies in Scotland. The Scottish Government must reject their desires. SPUC’s Five Asks offer a far better story for Scotland.”
