Leading pro-life group launches campaign against gay marriage London, : A leading pro-life group has launched a campaign against the Westminster government's proposals for same-sex marriage.

The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) www.spuc.org.uk has today published a position paper on same-sex marriage following a resolution by SPUC's Council last month.

SPUC has also made available today a background paper to be read in conjunction with the position paper and which provides some additional references and reflections. SPUC is the world's oldest pro-life lobbying and educational organisation, founded in 1967.

SPUC states that: * Marriage - the permanent, exclusive union of one man and one woman - is the basis of the family, the fundamental group unit of society. Upholding marriage is therefore in everyone’s interests. * Marriage as an institution protects children, both born and unborn. Statistics show that unborn children are much safer within marriage than outside marriage. * Same-sex marriage lacks basic elements of true marriage e.g. the complementary sexual difference between spouses necessary for the procreation and healthy upbringing of children. * Same-sex marriage represents an attempt to redefine marriage, thus undermining marriage. This undermining lessens the protection for unborn children which true marriage provides.

John Smeaton, SPUC's director, commented: "We can't build a true culture of life if we don't defend the truths which connect sexuality to human life. Homosexual unions, whether the existing civil partnerships or the proposed gay marriages, are radically disconnected from those truths. SPUC's Council, elected by SPUC's grassroots volunteers, has therefore resolved to defend human life by defending marriage from the government's proposed redefinition to include homosexual couples."

SPUC's communications department can be contacted on 07939 177683 or 020 7820 3129 or news@spuc.org.uk