The cryptically named Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (can children be unborn?) has put out a press release in response to the announcement by Marie Stopes International that they will be running a TV campaign to raise awareness of abortion services.
The SPUC release states "Abortion is in English law a criminal offence. Advertising of a criminal offence is not permitted". According to SPUC, the NHS and several hundred thousand health professionals (including myself) were mistaken in our belief that abortion was legal under the 1967 Abortion Act.
So SPUC's statement is either:
1) A genuine mistake on the part of SPUC. Are they thinking about the The Offenses Against the Person Act, 1861, s.58 under which procuring or supplying abortion was an offence? Is it possible that a group (one of whose expressed aims is "To examine existing or proposed laws, legislation or regulations relating to abortion") are so incompetent as to be one hundred and fifty years out of date in their research? (the act they seem to think is still operating also mandates life imprisonment for homosexuality).
or:
2) A deliberate and grotesque attempt to mislead women at a vulnerable point in their lives.
I direct SPUC to the wording of the 1967 abortion act and presume that a further press release will follow shortly, admitting either 1) their incompetence; or 2) their willful deceit.
When I spoke to SPUC, they quoted the Offenses Act to me as their reason for saying abortion is illegal. They can't possibly be unaware of the Abortion Act 1967.
ReplyDeleteDid you see the advert?
Yep, saw it. Note what LIFE said about it:
ReplyDelete"By suggesting that abortion is yet another consumer choice, it trivialises human life, and completely contravenes the spirit of the 1967 Abortion Act".
At least they've heard of the 1967 Abortion Act.