About us

We are the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), the oldest pro-life campaigning and educational organisation in the world.

Our Society was founded in January 1967 to oppose the abortion bill being debated in Parliament at the time. That bill would go on to become the 1967 Abortion Act, while we became the UK's first and largest pro-life group.

Tragically, more than 8.4 million unborn children have lost their lives in Britain to this Abortion Act - Abortion is the biggest killer of children in the world today. We work to protect human lives at the national and local level, and to build a society free from abortion.

Our aims

• To affirm, defend and promote the existence and value of human life from the moment of conception until natural death.
• To defend and protect human life generally and in particular, whether born or unborn (although principally the latter) and wheresoever situate (although principally in Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands, the Republic of Ireland and Europe).
• To reassert the principle laid down in the United Nations' "Declaration of the Rights of the child" (1959) that "the child, by reason of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth."
• To defend, assist and promote the life and welfare of mothers during pregnancy and of their children from the time of conception up to, during and after birth.

Our principles

We base all our work on these principles of natural justice:

• it is wrong to kill innocent human beings
• everyone should be treated equally
• all human beings are people with rights
• children deserve special protection and care
• the weakest in society must be protected by the law

These are principles that everyone can agree on, whatever their political, religious or cultural beliefs.

Our strengths

SPUC members campaigning against proposals for abortion adverts on TV

We are the oldest pro-life organisation in the world (founded in 1967) and as such, we have built up extensive experience in all the pro-life areas that we cover. Read more about the successes we've had here.

We are the largest pro-life grassroots organisation in the UK, with over 100 branches and 45,000 supporters across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland (where abortion remains illegal, thanks in large part to our efforts). Join our national movement for life.

Our areas

In order to end abortion, it's not enough solely to lobby MPs or care for women in crisis pregnancies or educate young people - rather, we need to do all of those things and more!

The scope of our work extends from raising public awareness, to showing young people the pro-life facts in schools, to supporting doctors and parents who are standing up for life against the pressures they face. A lot of our work involves lobbying Parliament, as SPUC was founded to oppose changes which undermined legal protection for the unborn in Great Britain. However, as the first pro-life campaign organisation established in the world, we have also developed a role in international lobbying, such as at the United Nations.

By protecting unborn children at all levels of society - from Westminster, inside schools, to the courts - we're defending life against multiple threats.

Public awareness

Pro-life volunteers stand up for life across the country

One reason why the practice of abortion has become ingrained in society is that the victims are unknown, unseen and unheard.  In SPUC, we teach people about abortion and what it does to unborn babies. By educating youngsters at school, and the wider public, we help make the life and the rights of the unborn known.

Knowledge about fertilisation and early human development has expanded hugely over the past 200 years We are better placed than at any time in history to recognise the early human being as one of us.

A baby is conceived by the joining of the egg and sperm cells to form a single-cell embryo.  The embryo is a unique, human, living being - a new person.  We all share this beginning, and we need to protect those who come after us.

Our issues

SPUC helps people address issues like:

• When does a new life begin? Is this a question of opinion or a question of fact?
• How does abortion affect women's health and welfare?
• Why are there so many abortions when contraceptives are readily available?
• Why does the NHS fund abortions, which provide no health benefits but actually harm women?

There is more to being pro-life than just believing that life is precious. Our campaign slogan is: "Defending human life with love from conception to natural death". Love demands action - it demands that we act to protect life and to counter the forces which promote abortion, euthanasia and other threats to life.

To find out how you can get involved, click here. Everyone has something to contribute to the pro-life cause!

Education

SPUC works in schools, colleges and universities across the UK

Secondary schools & colleges

It's essential that school students learn the truth about human development in the womb, and the value that each and every human life has.

Unfortunately, many pupils are simply never taught the basic facts when it comes to abortion:

• the fact that life begins at conception
• the way each human being grows & develops inside the womb
• the inherent value of every person's life
• the tragic effect abortion has on many mothers

That's why SPUC works in schools, to teach these basic facts to future generations. Our trained speakers go into schools, colleges and universities to teach people about the reality behind abortion.

Sex education

Safe at School campaigns against the sexualisation of children and teenagers by explicit classroom sex education. Safe at School rejects compulsory sex education and the use of sexually provocative materials in schools. We advise and support parents whose children are exposed to age-inappropriate, harmful sex education.