The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) has called upon Scottish First Minister John Swinney to rule out the possibility of allowing abortion up to the point of birth.
Last week SPUC pointed to official figures suggesting that abortion is now the leading cause of death in Scotland. The most recent annual figures indicate that over 18,000 abortions took place in Scotland last year, the highest on record.
Abortions have also reached record levels in the rest of the United Kingdom.
SPUC’s latest intervention comes after the publication of a draft motion that seeks to implement the recommendations of the Scottish Abortion Law Reform Expert Group. The group recommends measures that critics say would effectively legalise abortion up to the point of birth.
At present abortion is permitted up to 24 weeks into a pregnancy. Abortion after this point is generally only permitted in exceptional medical circumstances.
The proposed reforms effectively remove the requirement for a reason for an abortion before 24 weeks, while broadening the scope of when abortions are permitted after that point.
John Deighan, Chief Executive of SPUC, said, “This draft conference motion represents a radical and deeply disturbing shift in the SNP’s direction.
“While previous conference resolutions supported access up to the current 24-week legal limit, this new proposal attempts to hijack the party’s platform to push through extreme recommendations from an ideological ‘Expert Group’ that wants abortion completely decriminalised.
“Removing abortion from the criminal law altogether means removing the 24-week legal ceiling. It would leave Scotland with one of the most extreme abortion laws in the world, allowing viable, late-term unborn babies to be aborted right up to birth.”
Deighan said that Scotland’s First Minister should show “true leadership” and “clearly rule out” any measure that would permit abortion up to the point of birth.
