SPUC Dundee branch (Society for the Protection of Unborn Children) held the 17th consecutive annual silent vigil to commemorate the passing of the 1967 Abortion Act on 22nd October in Dundee City Centre. It was a smaller event than usual due to the current restriction on public gatherings. ‘We chose not to advertise the event more widely this year but didn’t want to let the anniversary pass by unmarked’ said Clare McGraw, SPUC Dundee branch secretary and organsier of the event. ‘So just under 30 people attended to witness to the 9 million children who have been killed in the UK since the Act was passed’.
SPUC is a grassroots campaigning organisation defending the right to life from the moment of conception until natural death. The group held placards with the phone number of a help-line for post-abortion counselling. Dundee’s new pro-life centre (Dundee Pregnancy and Parenthood Support) endorsed by Bishop Stephen, can also help local women in crisis pregnancies with practical and emotional support.
SPUC are currently campaigning against the Scottish Government’s DIY abortion scheme which provides for abortion drugs to be taken at home without medical supervision. Michael Robinson, SPUC Director of Communications said, ‘As we feared from the beginning, DIY abortion has proved impossible to regulate. Abortion pills already carry risks, including risks to the mother’s life, even if the first pill is taken in the clinic. In the case of DIY abortion, pills have been taken at home long after the recommended point in pregnancy. A mystery shopper exercise found that abortion providers have been sending out pills to women without even basic checks’.