Bishop Mark Davies, the Catholic Bishop of Shrewsbury, has condemned the DIY home abortion regime calling it “sinister” and an assault on mothers and babies.
The new DIY home abortion regime was introduced in March 2020 in response to the nationwide lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The regime allows women to get abortion drugs following a telephone call. They are not required to meet with a doctor face to face and the abortion pills are sent through the post. Women are then left to perform their own chemical abortion at home with no medical supervision or support.
Delivering a homily during a Mass celebrated for health and social care workers, Bishop Davies said: “In the days to come we have some searching questions to ask as to how we valued the frailest members of society, whether the elderly dependent upon our care; or the unborn whose lives, and the well-being of whose mothers, were together assaulted by a sinister measure of the Department of Health to promote ‘do-it-yourself’ abortion in the first days of the crisis”.
In April 2020, as reported by SPUC, Bishops in Scotland also condemned the new abortion regulations. In a strongly worded letter, Bishop Hugh Gilbert, President of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland, said that the abortion regulations were “deeply troubling”.
Government must tell the truth about DIY abortions
The controversial “pills by post” abortion scheme has been severely criticised by SPUC.
In recent weeks, Helen Whately, Minister of State at the Department of Health and Social Care, has received written questions from MPs voicing concerns about the safety of the “pills by post” abortion scheme. Critical points raised in the questions include how women report complications after a home abortion and when the Care Quality Commission will publish data on the medical complications following a DIY abortion, in addition to seeking an assurance that home abortions will not be extended after the pandemic.
Warnings by SPUC that home abortions would be wide open to abuse have already been proved right. According to a recent press report, police in the Midlands are investigating the case of a women took abortion pills sent to her by BPAS to abort her baby at 28 weeks’ gestation. SPUC has been mobilising members of the public and pro-life supporters to alert their MP to this tragic case.
SPUC has launched a national campaign calling on concerned citizens to contact their MP to put pressure on the Government to tell the truth about DIY abortions.
SPUC is asking supporters to send a series of probing questions to their MP asking him/her to demand answers from the Department of Health and Social Care.
Please contact your MP now. Ask him or her to contact the Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, urgently, to answer key questions about this dangerous abortion regime and to demand that this dangerous policy be stopped immediately.
If you live in Scotland or Wales, please also contact your MSP/ MS to demand that the devolved governments do the same.