The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (bpas) has won the Times Charity of the Year Award for charities with an income of more than £10 million.

Ann Furedi, the head of bpas, recently caused widespread outrage when she told the hosts of ITV’s Loose Women that a decision to have an abortion based on the gender of the baby is "always down to the woman". In the same interview, she argued that abortion was a form of birth control, and that the current 24 week limit should be removed.

Alithea Williams of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) commented: "It seems astonishing that an organisation like bpas should win a charity of the year award ahead of charities who work in disaster zones, with the homeless, and with ex-offenders. Whatever one’s view on abortion, bpas is promoting an extreme agenda that most of the public find abhorrent - notably their support for gender selective abortion and abortion up to birth."

"Moreover, it is shocking that an organisation that was recently slammed by the CQC for safety violations and hospitalising women should be given any kind of award. Such appalling lack of care for women, and of course their unborn children, should be called out and condemned, not rewarded."

Notes to editors:

• Winners of the Charity Times Awards - other charities in the category include the Disaster Relief Fund and War Child UK.
• CQC report into bpas Merseyside - 11 women were transferred for emergency hospital treatment after suffering serious injuries between January 2013 - March 2016, including eight cases in a 15 month period from January 2015 - March 2016. It also highlights a catalogue of safety issues, including infection control procedures not being followed, no effective systems being in place to ensure resuscitation equipment was regularly checked to protect patients from avoidable harm, and incidents not being properly investigated. (SPUC news story.)
• Loose Women shocked at bpas boss Ann Furedi's extreme abortion agenda
• Boss of leading abortion provider says terminations should be regarded as 'just another type of birth control'
• The most recent survey of British views on abortion found that 89% of the general population and 91% of women agree that gender-selective abortion should be explicitly banned by the law. It also revealed that 99% of the public oppose the abortion limit being raised to birth. 

Contact us

Alithea Williams can be contacted on:

• Telephone: 020 7820 3121
• Mobile: 07792372599
• Email: alitheawilliams@spuc.org.uk