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About us

About us

The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) is the oldest pro-life campaigning and educational organisation in the world.

Our Society was founded in January 1967 to oppose the abortion bill being debated in Parliament at the time. That bill would go on to become the 1967 Abortion Act, and we became the UK's first and largest pro-life group.

SPUC campaigns to end abortion. We advocate the need for a consistent life ethic – one that values the lives of all human beings - and so we also campaign against other direct threats to the lives of vulnerable individuals, such as euthanasia and embryo abuse.

Structure

We are a grassroots organisation with over 60 local branches in Britain. We have thousands of supporters across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The Society's national UK headquarters is in London. SPUC Scotland, which has offices in Glasgow, carries out the Society's work in Scotland. There is also a dedicated Northern Ireland team in our Belfast office. Staff in all our offices work to support local members, as well as planning political campaigns, running a pro-life communications service, organising conferences and outreach, speaking in schools and engaging in academic research.

Grassroots members in local branches are the lifeblood of SPUC. Their primary remit is to campaign, educate, fundraise and recruit supporters.

Branches throughout the country are grouped into SPUC Regions, and branches are encouraged to appoint a representative to join the Regional Committee and attend Regional Meetings.

Members of the Regional Committees can be nominated for election to the SPUC Council, which decides SPUC policy. The Council also monitors and holds to account the management of SPUC, which is run by the Executive Committee of the Society. The Society is incorporated as a limited company (SPUC Pro Life).

Aims and Principles

Our aims

  • To affirm, defend and promote the existence and value of human life from the moment of conception until natural death
  • To defend and protect human life generally and in particular, whether born or unborn (although principally the latter) and wheresoever situate (although principally in Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands, the Republic of Ireland and Europe)
  • To reassert the principle laid down in the United Nations' "Declaration of the Rights of the child" (1959) that "the child, by reason of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth”
  • To defend, assist and promote the life and welfare of mothers during pregnancy and of their children from the time of conception up to, during and after birth

Our principles

We base all our work on these principles of natural justice:

  • it is wrong to kill innocent human beings
  • everyone should be treated equally
  • all human beings are people with rights
  • children deserve special protection and care
  • the weakest in society must be protected by the law


Abortion is the biggest killer of children in the world today, and has tragically claimed the lives of over 9 million children in the UK since the passing of the Abortion Act in 1967.


Our history

SPUC was founded on 11 January 1967 in response to the presentation of the Abortion Act, which was introduced as a Private Member’s Bill by David Steel MP, and given royal assent on 27 October 1967.

Recognising the need to form an organisation dedicated to opposing legalised abortion, two ordinary members of the public, Alan Smith and Elspeth Rhys-Williams, alongside other founder members, set about creating a dynamic and diverse organisation that would unite pro-lifers across the UK against abortion.

Today we remain a non-denominational, inclusive organisation that welcomes people of all backgrounds and faiths who uphold the right to life.

Since 1967, SPUC has been on the frontline in every important legislative battle over abortion in the UK, recognising the United Nations’ 1959 Declaration of the Rights of the Child: that every child “needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth”.

Engaging in many critical legal cases to defend human life at home and abroad, in such international forums as the United Nations, SPUC has gradually increased its reach and now communicates its message across a broad platform, including schools, campuses and online media.

Our mission has also broadened to the protection of life in all forms, including the human embryo in the earliest and most vulnerable situations, and taking a principled stand against the “test-tube baby” process known as IVF, as well as supporting disability rights activists in opposing euthanasia and assisted suicide/assisted dying.