The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) is seeking legal advice following the decision by the Scottish National Party (SNP) to cancel a fringe event at its conference.
SPUC had booked the event to talk about the issue of coerced abortion but were later informed that their event had been cancelled. The three-day SNP conference is due to begin in Aberdeen on 15 October.
Christian and pro-life groups had expressed concern ahead of the conference following the leak of a draft motion to implement the recommendations of the Scottish Abortion Law Reform Expert Group.
The so-called expert group, which did not include pro-life voices and was committed from the outset to the principle of “non-regression” on abortion, has proposed removing abortion entirely from the scope of criminal law. Critics say their proposals would effectively legalise abortion up to the point of birth for any or no reason.
Last week however, it emerged that SNP had dropped plans to vote on the motion at its conference, a decision that SPUC welcomed as a “positive decision”.
Applauding the SNP decision did not save the pro-life group from cancellation, however, and now it is seeking legal advice.
A spokesperson for SPUC said in a statement, “The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children have been in contact with SNP conference organisers, including the Party’s Chief Executive, since August and there was at no point any issue of concern raised.”
The statement added, “Preventing debate and discussion and cancelling valid viewpoints are behaviours associated with totalitarian regimes around the world, the rule of the mob has replaced the rule of law within the SNP.
“SPUC will now seek legal advice as we believe the decision of the SNP to cancel our fringe event is a breach of the Equality Act.”
A spokesperson for the SNP said: “Following concerns being raised by SNP members we have taken the decision to revoke permission to SPUC to hold a fringe event at our conference.
“We want SNP conference to be a place where all members can feel comfortable and it is clear our initial decision was wrong as it did not achieve that.”
