New pro-abortion amendments announced, please leaflet now

Dear supporter,

Yesterday pro-abortion MPs tabled extremely damaging amendments to the Abortion Act via the HFE bill. It is critical that we act now to resist these amendments as strongly as possible.

As you will know, during last month's debates on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, none of the amendments seeking to lower the 24-week time limit on 'social' abortions was passed. Nearly 400 MPs voted with the pro-abortion lobby in those debates. The Commons also rejected attempts to curb the some of the abuses of human embryos envisaged in the bill.

The committee stage of the bill has now been completed and pro-abortion MPs have tabled abortion amendments to de-restrict abortions up to 24 weeks, and to empower midwives and nurses to perform abortion. Further amendments may be tabled to seek to extend the Abortion Act to Northern Ireland. More babies will die if such amendments are passed.

I know that many people have worked very hard in the fight against this bill. But today we must make a final push to stop these amendments being incorporated into it. Please order a quantity of our new leaflet "No to more abortion" http://www.spuc.org.uk/hfeabort.pdf and distribute them door-to-door, in the street and at churches. Order the leaflets by emailing lizfoody@spuc.org.uk or by phoning SPUC on 020 7091 7091. The new leaflet complements the recent one "How should human life be treated" http://www.spuc.org.uk/hfeleaflet.pdf which is still current, and both leaflets can be distributed separately or together.

It's essential for people to contact their MPs to ask them to vote against amendments extending abortion. MPs can be contacted in writing at House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA, or by email. If you have internet access you can contact your MP (and find out your MP's name) via http://www.spuc.org.uk/mps Please copy any replies you receive to Anthony Ozimic, SPUC political secretary, either by email at political@spuc.org.uk or by post to SPUC HQ.

David Cameron MP

When writing to Conservative MPs, we would urge you to draw attention to the recent deplorable pro-abortion statement from David Cameron, the Conservative leader. While saying that he is concerned about abortion, the statement suggests that he supports the kind of amendments that have now been tabled. The statement, in the form of a letter from "The office of the Leader of the Opposition", describes Mr Cameron's pro-abortion position. It says:

"David [Cameron] is aware of the comments made by the shadow Secretary of State for Health, Andrew Lansley MP... Andrew was advocating that early, medical [i.e. drug-induced] abortions are preferable to late, surgical ones. Therefore, Andrew was in favour of amending the requirement for two doctors to consent to an abortion being performed and for reviewing the restrictions on nurses providing medical abortions. As David is in favour of allowing women to have abortions, but supports a reduction to the abortion limit, he thinks that this is a practical and sensible proposal. However, it must be emphasized that this is currently a free vote issue."

These references clearly mean abolishing the requirement for a second doctor's signature, and getting nurses to administer the RU486 abortion drug. These are the effects of the amendments that were tabled yesterday.

Prayer

If you share my belief in the power of prayer, please pray for the defeat of the bill and the abortion amendments. 'Pray as if everything depended on God and work as if everything depended on you.'

SPUC National Conference 2008

Our 2008 annual conference takes place on 5th-7th September at the Hayes conference centre, Derbyshire. Booking forms will be circulated shortly, but please put the date in your diary now and consider who can come from your branch or locality. We must make 2008 a turning point for the pro-life movement in Britain. Our conference weekend is a tremendous opportunity to catch up on the issues, the people and the campaigns that will help us to make a difference.

Yours sincerely,

Paul Tully
General Secretary

PS: Please make it your top priority to distribute as many leaflets as possible in the coming week. The bill's report stage may start at the very beginning of July, so we have to act straight away to have an impact.