Pro-lifers campaign against morning-after pill outside pharmacists Westminster, --Pro-life campaigners are distributing leaflets outside chemists' shops warning people about the dangers and true nature of the morning-after pill. Members of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) are giving out leaflets after the government reclassified the morning-after pill as a drug available from pharmacists without prescription. The drugs will be available to women over 16 and the pharmacist, not a doctor, will be responsible if anything goes wrong. John Smeaton, SPUC's national director, explained: "The morning-after pill can cause an early abortion. Not to inform women of this vital fact is a betrayal of trust. It is dishonest and misleading of the government to present it as 'emergency contraception'. The morning-after pill is a potent drug and is intended to work by preventing a newly conceived human embryo from implanting in his or her mother's womb. This is turning chemists into front-line abortion providers." The pro-life campaigners are also concerned about the potential health risks to women and girls. Mr Smeaton said: "Pharmacists will not have access to a woman's medical history, and her GP will not be informed unless she has specifically requested that this happen. Moreover, common sense suggests that easy availability of the morning-after pill will leave teenage girls more at risk of sexual abuse and under greater pressure to engage in casual sex. "There is also absolutely no evidence that the new scheme will reduce the number of clinical abortions. The 1990s saw an almost five-fold increase in prescriptions for the morning-after pill in England yet, over the same period, the overall rate of abortion rose." Leaflets are being distributed by SPUC members in: * Acton * Altrincham and Sale * Ashton-under-Lyne * Basildon * Bexley * Birkenhead * Blackpool * Bodmin * Bolton * Bourne * Burnley * Burton-on-Trent * Bury * Bury St Edmunds * Cardiff * Cheltenham * Chester * Chorley * Chorlton * Colwyn Bay * Coventry * Crosby * Croydon * Crumpsall * Dewsbury * Diss * Dover * Downham Market * East Devon and West Dorset * Eccles * Erdington * Farnham * Folkestone and Hythe * Gloucester * Gower * Halifax * Halton * Harrow * Hoylake * Huddersfield * Huntingdon * Kensington and Chelsea * Kirkham * Leeds * Leigh * Lincoln * Liverpool Woolton * Lutterworth * Neston * Newport * Nottingham * Nuneaton * Oldham * Peterborough * Plymouth * Preston * Rotherham * Rutland and Melton * Salford * Solihull * Stockton * Stretford * Stroud * Torquay * Tower Hamlets * Twickenham and Richmond * Walton * Wansbeck * Warrington * West Cumbria * Westmorland * Withington * Woodbridge * Worthing