The Court of Appeal has announced that it will permit a hearing to consider the legal basis of the Government’s DIY home abortion policy. John Deighan, SPUC Deputy Chief Executive said: “SPUC will watch this case with great interest and hopes that the lives of the unborn are given some level of protection which they are currently being denied.”
Christian Concern, a British evangelical organization, lost their first attempt to pursue a judicial review against the DIY home abortion regulations in May this year. Senior judges threw out the case, stating that the grounds for legal action were “not properly arguable” and therefore refused to grant the judicial review.
However, the Court of Appeal has now announced that a public hearing will be permitted. This will determine if the Department of Health exceeded its powers in introducing the DIY home abortion regulations.
The DIY home abortion regulations were introduced earlier this year in response to the nationwide lockdown caused by the Coronavirus pandemic.
The DIY abortion scheme allows women get abortion drugs following a phone or video call. Women do not have the opportunity to meet a doctor or healthcare professional in person and the abortion drugs are sent through the post. Women are left to perform their own abortion at home without medical supervision or support.
“Winning the public’s heart and mind”
Mr Deighan, SPUC Deputy Chief Executive said: “SPUC is aware how divided legal opinion is on this issue. This appeal hearing has been necessary just to allow the Judicial Review to take place. The actual case itself is still to be heard and we wish Christian Concern every success in convincing judges of their objections which are shared by SPUC.
“Our view is that the measure allowing home abortion is beyond the powers of the government but we are keenly aware that politicians and the legal establishment have in recent years shown a very strong willingness to widen access to abortion whenever they get the chance.
“SPUC believes that on this issue, we need to win the hearts and minds of the general public and that is why we have launched a successful public awareness campaign to combat DIY home abortion.
“SPUC has had experience of the legal establishment being deaf to our concerns. But we watch this case with great interest and hope that the lives of the unborn are given some level of protection which they are currently being denied.”
SPUC’s Tell the Truth campaign
In May 2020, SPUC launched a major campaign demanding that both Parliament and the public hear the truth about the Government’s rash move to allow women to carry out their own abortions at home.
As part of the campaign, SPUC wrote to the Secretary of State for Health and Social care, calling for the immediate reversal of the dangerous regulations.
SPUC is asking supporters to contact their MPs,to demand full disclosure of the impact on women of the DIY abortion scheme.
Pressure mounted on the government to reverse the reckless home abortion policy, after a woman who was four weeks past the legal abortion limit used the BPAS ‘pills through the postservice’ to kill her 28 - week unborn baby.
28 weeks’ gestation is over 6 months pregnant. It is four weeks past the legal limit, and 18 weeks later than the recommended gestation of 10 weeks for a “medical” abortion.
If you would like more information or to get involved in SPUC’s Tell the Truth campaign, more information can be found here.