Right To Life UK has urged supporters to join a campaign encouraging Welsh politicians to sign pledges on the issues of abortion and assisted suicide.
Next week the people of Wales will be voting for members of the Welsh Parliament. Right To Life UK said their campaign would allow candidates to understand the strength of feeling on the issue among voters and would also give voters information on where the candidates stand.
The first of the pledges, the “both lives pledge”, commits candidates to overturning the recent law allowing abortion up to birth, ending sex-selective abortions, reducing the legal limit for abortion and putting a stop to “pregnancy discrimination” and unsafe abortions at home.
Abortion up to the point of birth was effectively legalised via an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill. The 24-week limit for abortions remains in place, meaning that medical professionals assisting an abortion after that point will face legal consequences, but a woman ending her pregnancy by her own means will face no sanctions.
The second pledge, the “end-of-life protection pledge”, calls for increased funding for palliative care and opposition to any further attempts to introduce medically assisted suicide.
Since 2000 there have been around 10 attempts to get some form of medically assisted suicide on the books. So far all of them have failed, although campaigners remain committed to continued attempts.
The most recent was a private member's bill put forward by Labour’s Kim Leadbeater. That bill ran out of time while facing scrutiny in the House of Lords and so failed. Critics warned that the proposed safeguards were extremely limited and left the system open to abuse and coercion.
Catherine Robinson, spokesperson for Right To Life UK, said, “When candidates are asked to sign these pledges, it helps show future MSs [Members of the Welsh Parliament] that many local people care deeply about protecting vulnerable lives. It also helps make clear where candidates stand on abortion and assisted suicide, so voters have this vital information before polling day.”
