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SPUC condemns appointments of anti-life ministers
Westminster, 16 June 2003--The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) has condemned the appointment of new British government ministers who have sympathies with abortion, embryo experimentation and/or euthanasia.
Of particular concern to SPUC are the appointments of:
- Melanie Johnson as Minister for Public Health;
- Margaret Hodge as Minister for Children;
- Gareth R Thomas as parliamentary under-secretary for international development.
SPUC political spokesman Anthony Ozimic explained SPUC's concerns: "The new minister for public health Melanie Johnson will have responsibility for abortion, embryo experimentation and the practice of euthanasia by omission. Melanie Johnson has a voting record in favour of destructive embryo stem cell research and euthanasia and our assessment is that she is more likely to support than to oppose abortion.
"As Minister for Children Margaret Hodge has been given
responsibility for the provision of abortifacient birth control to
schoolchildren. Her portfolio will also include family law, which
encompasses proposals to extend euthanasia by omission. Margaret Hodge
also has a voting record in favour of euthanasia.
"Gareth R Thomas is the secretary of the All-Party
Parliamentary Pro-Choice Group and therefore it is particularly
sinister that such a leading advocate of abortion will have
responsibility for the British government's policy of population
control in the developing world.
"It is clear from this reshuffle that protecting the right to life of vulnerable persons - the unborn, disabled and elderly - will not be on the cabinet's programme. The government's preoccupation with a radical anti-life agenda is increasingly isolating Britain from its European and American neighbours on ethical issues", concluded Mr. Ozimic.
