SPUC condemns Sainsbury’s for handing out abortion pills to underage girls

Westminster, 22 August 2002--Pro-lifers have expressed concern and disappointment at the news that Sainsbury's is handing out free morning-after pills to girls under 16. Morning-after pills can cause early abortions and may endanger the health of under-16s.

A spokesman for Sainsbury's confirmed yesterday that five stores in South Wales, Greater Manchester and Bristol had entered into partnerships with local health authorities to make the morning-after pill available free of charge to teenagers, including those under 16. The news came just one month after Tesco bowed to pressure from its customers and abandoned its involvement in the scheme.

Paul Tully, general secretary of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), said: "We were initially alerted to Sainsbury's involvement in schemes like this some months ago. However, we focused attention on their bigger rival, Tesco, who were doing the same thing. Tesco have now said that they will not provide the drug freely to under-16s, and Sainsbury's decision to promote this policy appears to be a deliberately provocative move.

"We will be making strong representations to them to desist. This policy undermines the vast majority of decent parents who want to care for their teenage children, as well as showing utter indifference to early human life in the womb.

"One of the ways in which the morning-after pill works is by preventing a newly conceived unborn child from implanting in his or her mother's womb. When this happens, it causes an abortion. If this were not reason enough for Sainsbury's to take no part in this government-sponsored scheme, then they should also be aware that the morning-after pill may endanger women's health and can make girls vulnerable to abuse by older men.

"We shall be mounting a full-scale campaign against the provision of morning-after pills in Sainsbury's, just as we did successfully with Tesco."