Sending a message to the Prime Minister. SPUC's priority campaign.
?SPUC has launched a major nationwide petition, calling on the Prime Minister not to give any parliamentary support to moves to decriminalise abortion.
"The decriminalisation of abortion remains a major threat," said SPUC CEO John Smeaton. "We urgently need to send a loud message to the Prime Minister not to give any parliamentary support to moves to decriminalise abortion."
Sign the petition!
Background
In March 2017, Diana Johnson, the Labour MP for Kingston upon Hull North, brought forward her Reproductive Health (Access to Terminations) bill, which sought to remove abortion from criminal law. Although the bill had no chance of progressing, because of parliamentary time constraints, it narrowly passed.
That bill was unsuccessful, but the campaign to decriminalise abortion, spearheaded by BPAS, goes on. Major medical bodies are siding with the abortion industry, including the Royal College of Midwives, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the British Medical Association. The Royal College of Nursing is currently consulting on whether to adopt a pro-decriminalisation policy.
What would decriminalisation mean?
The petition calls on the Prime Minister not to support decriminalisation because:
- Decriminalising abortion will strip from unborn children any remaining effective legal protection from abortion. The Abortion Act 1967 is a bad law but keeping abortion within the law offers some safeguards for mothers and their unborn babies.
- Abortion should remain a criminal offence if performed outside the terms of the 1967 Abortion Act, in order to protect women from Britain's abortionists.
- Decriminalising abortion would mean vulnerable pregnant women buying online abortion pills and taking them with no medical supervision.
The closing date for the petition is Friday 27 April 2018; the day, 50 years ago, when the Abortion Act came into force.
"The petition is our priority campaign," said Mr Smeaton. "Consider forwarding this petition to friends and family, and ordering paper petition forms to collect signatures. Please do everything you can to make this a success. "
The petition can be signed here. Paper copies of the petition, and copies of our petition flyer, which sets out the case against decriminalising abortion, can be ordered here.
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