The threat to free speech and even prayer is immediate and not going away, delegates at SPUC’s recent national conference heard.
SPUC’s 2023 National Conference, held in Milton Keynes on 22-24 September, saw 180 delegates come together to envision “a world where abortion is unthinkable”.
While the conference concluded on a positive note, looking forward to more campaigning, speakers also recognised the challenges facing the pro-life movement in the UK, most especially the threat to free speech.
GB News’ Calvin Robinson, who opened the conference, condemned censorious “buffer zones [which] should not exist in the first place”, preventing pro-lifers from offering help to mothers outside of abortion facilities.
Robinson also slammed the arrest of Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, arrested twice for praying silently outside a facility in Birmingham. Although later acquitted, her victory was “bittersweet” since the arrest on its own constituted “intimidation” and was “very political”, judged Robinson.
SPUC CEO John Deighan also noted the de-platforming of pro-lifers, including at such events as the Edinburgh Fringe. Delegates also heard about how pro-life students at universities have experienced increased hostility from student unions and faced similar cancellation.
Grace Browne, Communications Manager at SPUC, directly addressed the issue of losing social reputation when speaking out on behalf of unborn children. Ms Browne encouraged delegates to speak out nevertheless and take inspiration from such figures as Sophie Scholl, a German student executed by the Nazis for distributing anti-war leaflets.
SPUC comment
A SPUC spokesperson said: “Pro-lifers unquestionably face cancellation in 2023. Following the arrests of peaceful individuals like Isabel, we can no longer take free speech and even prayer for granted.
“Some politicians, councils and other groups are attempting to weaponise the law against people they disagree with to intimidate them and ultimately shut them up. As members of a free society, we cannot give in to this if we want to remain free.
“In the end, much more is at stake than we may realise: unborn lives, of course, but also our fundamental right to conscience and to say NO to great wrongs.”
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GB News’ Calvin Robinson opens SPUC National Conference with pro-life call to action