Briefings for Parliamentarians &

Consultation Responses

We produce briefings for MPs and peers, to help inform and shape debates and questions in the House of Commons and the House of Lords on pro-life issues. We also work with politicians in Holyrood, Stormont and the Welsh Parliament.

We also submit consultation responses to a number of inquiries including from select committees, public bill committees and politicians proposing bills.

Should women be removed from the criminal law related to abortion? (February 2024)

On Tuesday 28 November 2023, Labour MPs Dame Diana Johnson and Stella Creasy tabled amendments NC1 and NC2 respectively to the Government’s Criminal Justice Bill. These amendments, which would both decriminalise abortion, were debated at Committee stage on Thursday 25 January 2024 and withdrawn. Now, Dame Diana has tabled a slightly amended version of her new clause (also NC1).

This briefing scrutinises the amendment, examines the reasons women are being prosecuted for illegal abortion, and considers if removing abortion from the criminal law is the correct solution.

Read the full briefing here.

Should women be removed from the criminal law related to abortion?

Call for Evidence on the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Bill (December 2023)

Read SPUC's response to the Scottish Parliament's consultation on the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Bill that seeks to introduce buffer zones around the country's abortion clinics.

Read the consultation response here.

Call for Evidence on the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Bill

Abortion and Coercion (October 2023)

We often associate abortion with words like "choice" and "autonomy". In reality, many abortions take place because a woman feels she has no choice - either because of her circumstances, or because she has been pressured by her partner, family, or even medical professionals.

Read the full briefing here.

Should schools in Northern Ireland have to teach pupils that they have a right to abortion? (June 2023)

The Relationships and Sexuality Education (Northern Ireland) (Amendment) Regulations 2023 will force all schools - regardless of their ethos, the religious or moral views of the headteacher and/or the board of governors - to teach children that they have a right to abortion and how to obtain one without the knowledge of their parents. It will also prohibit the presentation of any opinion opposed to abortion.

This briefing explains how these Regulations are fundamentally discriminatory.

Read the full briefing here.

Should schools in Northern Ireland have to teach pupils that they have a right to abortion?

Should abortion be decriminalised? (June 2023)

On 12th June 2023, the Crown Court at Stoke on Trent sentenced Carla Foster, a 44 year old mother of three, to 28 months imprisonment for the “offence of administering poison with intent to procure a miscarriage.”

Abortion providers and MPs are already using this sad case to call for the complete decriminalisation of abortion.

This briefing details the reasons why this case should not be seen as justification for this.

Read the full briefing here.

Complicit: Is UK money contributing to coerced abortion in China? (May 2023)

This shocking report suggests that the UK is still contributing

to schemes that fund China’s birth control policies

– despite the Government pledging on different occasions to reduce dramatically or better still end aid to China

Read the full briefing here.

Complicit: Is UK money contributing to coerced abortion in China?

Should access to abortion be a human right? (November 2022)

In June 2022, the Government rejected calls to include access to abortion in the Bill of Rights. Justice Secretary Dominic Raab believed it was unnecessary and warned against creating a situation where abortion law was decided through litigation rather than by Parliament.E-petition 619334 calls on the Government to include abortion rights in the Bill of Rights, and will be debated on Monday 28 November.

This briefing examines points raised in the petition, as well as international law around abortion, and the implications of making abortion a right.

Read the full briefing here.

Should access to abortion be a human right?

Briefing Series for MSPs on Assisted Suicide (September 2022)

In September 2022, Liam McArthur MSP lodged his Assisted Dying (Scotland) Bill. This series of briefings examine the problems with assisted suicide.

Click the images to view.

Submission to the Consultation on the proposed Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Bill (August 2022)

SPUC's submission to the consultation by Gillian MacKay MSP on the proposed Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Bill.

Read the full submission here.

Submission to the Consultation on the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill (December 2021)

SPUC's submission to the consultation by Liam McArthur MSP on the proposed Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill.

Read the full submission here.

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