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Dear SPUC supporter,

SPUC is the world’s first pro-life group and Europe’s largest.

The Society was founded in 1966 to oppose MP David Steel’s Bill to legalise mass abortion.

Despite the fledgling SPUC’s best efforts, the Abortion Act was passed 56 years ago this month (27 April 1967).

* 10 MILLION unborn children have been killed since the Act came into force

* In 2021 alone, there were 228,627 abortions in England, Wales and Scotland (the highest number ever), or to put it another way:

* 626 babies killed EVERY single day of the year.

As well as the grim toll on babies, abortion has proven to be no friend of women and girls either.

Despite the best efforts of our opponents to ignore or discredit it, internationally respected research leaves no doubt that abortion harms them too.

Thanks to funding from supporters, like you, it’s been possible for SPUC to commission high-quality research of its own and reach healthcare professionals and Parliamentarians with little-known facts, of which few are aware.

Research like this paper from Dr Greg Pike, which are based on the findings of the world’s biggest abortion studies.

And those findings are damning:

For instance, it’s undeniable that women’s mental health is harmed by abortion:

* Suicide in women is around six times greater after abortion than after childbirth

* Women experience a 30% increased risk of depression and a 25% increased risk of anxiety following abortion.

I’m sure that hearing disturbing FACTS like these leave you feeling troubled, upset and (understandably) angry.

That’s a natural human reaction to have if you care about human rights and justice in the world.

What’s more, our opponents know this.

That explains why they are currently going to great lengths to ensure that the grisly TRUTH about abortion stays hidden from the British public.

The tool they are using to do this is censorship.

Their attack on the pro-life movement’s right to freedom of speech and assembly is currently proving so damaging that I honestly don’t know how much longer groups like SPUC will be able to speak up publicly and defend unborn babies and protect their mothers.

I ask myself, will SPUC be next?

In a moment I will tell you about the latest attacks by our opponents to censor SPUC’s work in schools, but first I have disappointing news to report about censorship zone legislation

There have been THREE bids in UK Parliaments and Assemblies to silence the pro-life movement with draconian new ‘buffer zone’ laws.

FIRST: At Westminster, currently an amendment to the Public Order Bill tabled by the pro-abortion peer, Baroness Liz Sugg, is seeking to impose an unlimited fine on anyone:

* ‘… influencing any person’s decision to access, provide or facilitate the provision of abortion services at an abortion clinic,’ including…

* ‘… causing harassment, alarm or distress to any person in connection with a decision to access [an abortion]’ within 150 metres of an abortion facility.

On 7 March, a pro-life amendment which would have permitted silent prayer and consensual conversation was defeated in the House of Commons by 299 to 116.

Baroness Sugg’s amendment was then passed by a ‘voice vote’, with a new law banning pro-life vigils in England & Wales expected to come into force later this year.

Women experiencing a last-minute change of heart will then be denied practical, emotional support which is ONLY on hand at vigils.

SPUC is currently funding legal actions on behalf of ‘Lydia’ (not her real name) who was pressured into aborting her unborn baby at 5 months gestation by her then partner’s family members.

Lydia told me:

‘My unborn child could have been alive had I known that help was available and that people would believe and support me.’

SECOND: The Abortion (Safe Access Zones) (Northern Ireland) Bill was passed by the Northern Ireland Assembly on 24 March 2022.

THIRD: In Scotland, meanwhile, the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Bill has completed its consultation stage.

Penalties for infringing a Scottish censorship zone include a six-month prison term for a first offence, and up to 2-years for subsequent breaches.

Characterising silent, prayerful, peaceful vigils as criminal activity is not only dishonest—it also flies in the face of the findings of a high-level 2018 government investigation.

Responding to abortion lobby allegations of intimidation from the pro-life side, the then Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, determined that:

1. Pro-lifers 'passive' in nature

He said: '...what is clear from the evidence we gathered is that [aggressive] activities are not the norm, and predominantly, anti-abortion activities are more passive in nature.'

2. Pro-life media ‘caricatures’ are entirely false

Mr Javid also noted that: ‘Typical activities of those protesting outside of abortion clinics include praying, displaying banners and handing out leaflets…’

He added there were: ‘relatively few’ reports of more ‘aggressive activities’, such as ‘handing out model foetuses, displaying graphic images, following people, blocking their paths and even assaulting them.’

In the UK, pro-life advocates routinely endure intimidation, harassment and threats from abortion activists.

Acts of physical violence - even threats of death - against pro-lifers attending vigils and on university campuses are well documented. The ongoing demonisation of pro-lifers only encourages such attacks.

3. ‘Buffer zone’ legislation is completely unnecessary

Sajid Javid also pointed out that:

* In 2017, only 36 of the 363 hospitals and clinics in England and Wales that offered abortions had experienced pro-life ‘demonstrations’ near their facilities.

The 2018 Government review concluded that, because pro-life vigils were relatively few in number nationwide ‘buffer zones’ ‘would not be a proportionate response'.

SPUC SCHOOLS’ OUTREACH UNDER ATTACK
In a pro-life hit-piece disguised as an ‘investigation’, The Herald newspaper listed ‘dozens’ of Scottish schools that had received visits from SPUC Scotland over the past 5 years as if this were something to be alarmed about.

Freedom of Information (FOI) access requests have been weaponised in order to intimidate schools that welcome SPUC speakers.

I believe that the freelance journalist involved wants to ‘name and shame’ schools in the hope that they will buckle under pressure and stop SPUC from talking to pupils.

Frivolous information requests not only waste school staff time, they also endanger the rights of pupils to hear ALL the FACTS about abortion and judge for themselves.

The Herald has also come out and backed a petition by pro-abortion schoolteacher, Gemma Clark, which calls on the Scottish Government to act to ‘debunk misinformation’ from SPUC.

The petition, which also calls for pro-abortion propaganda to be made available in Scottish schools, was considered by a Scottish Parliamentary Committee in February.

Which side really peddles disinformation?

Ms Clark makes the quite startling claim that abortion is the same thing as a miscarriage or the medical treatment given for an ectopic pregnancy!

She says: ‘If you have an ectopic pregnancy … or if you have an incomplete miscarriage, [abortion] is the treatment.’

Clark is parroting a new (and thoroughly dishonest) narrative which alleges that ‘abortion is healthcare’.

It has become commonplace ever since the overturning of Roe v Wade in the United States.

Dr John Bruchalski (a former abortionist, now a pro-life doctor), describes this tactic as a ‘false flag operation’ absent of medical fact.

He explains that surgical treatment for an ectopic pregnancy (when an embryo becomes lodged in its mother’s fallopian tube) or a cancerous uterus, is NOT the same as abortion.

In such cases as these:

* The surgeon does not directly set out to kill the unborn baby as happens with an abortion, but rather to remove the affected organ

* Treatment for miscarriage may be the same as the D&C procedure sometimes used for abortions, but it differs radically from abortion in that the unborn baby has sadly already died from natural causes.

Dr Bruchalski makes it clear those medical treatments ‘do not entail direct, intentional violence on the child for the purpose of ending his or her life’.

He says:

'Women [in the United States] are and have been thoroughly cared for and treated for their pregnancy complications [since Roe was overturned].

‘But abortion advocates want you to think these cases are compromised in post-Roe America and bundled up in the wrongly dubbed ‘rights’ they are fighting for, in order to keep the abortion-on-demand culture alive.'

Malta is a country which demolishes the false ‘abortion is healthcare’ narrative.

Despite abortion being illegal on the Mediterranean island, there have not been ANY maternal deaths from ANY cause in 12 years.

The Herald is not the only publication to attack SPUC.

Last June, VICE News published another article attacking SPUC’s work in schools.

In it, SPUC is maligned for accepting funding from an overseas donor, which was perfectly legal and above board.

However, VICE News are notably silent about the £352 million donated by the UK Government to aid the direct or indirect killing of unborn babies overseas.

* Between 2016 and 2020, Marie Stopes International received £256 million in grants paid for by UK taxpayers.

* While International Planned Parenthood Foundation (IPPF) was sent £96 million to impose abortion imperialism on women in Third World countries.

The attacks on SPUC’s right to free speech do not end there, however.

HUMANISTS DEMAND THAT GOVERNMENT INVESTIGATE SPUC
In a further development, the Humanist Society is backing the Gemma Clark petition and demanding that the Scottish Parliament investigate pro-life groups’ activities in schools.

The deep levels of knowledge SPUC speakers possess make them ideally qualified to teach about abortion.

That our speakers are invited back by schools time and again is a testament to this.
It’s clear what the Humanists want: It’s to change the rules so that groups like SPUC are excluded from schools and ONLY a sanitised view of abortion is taught where the horrific realities are conveniently censored.

The humanists are quick to quote the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child which says young people have a right to receive ‘reliable information from a variety of sources’.

They omit to reference, however, the UN Declaration on the Rights of the Child, which states that:

'The child, by reason of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth’. (1959, UN General Assembly resolution 1386, xiv.)

This partial and biased treatment of the subject tells me that the Humanists are the last people who should have a say in what children are taught in schools.

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Unborn children face growing dangers from an ever-stronger and even wealthier abortion lobby. That means defending unborn children is getting tougher.

With anti-life groups so determined to keep the awful truth about abortion from young people, now isn’t the time to back down and abandon schoolchildren.

That’s why your backing is more important than ever.

SPUC relies entirely on donations from its rank-and-file supporters to ensure schools the length and breadth of Britain can hear the FACTS about abortion, free of charge.

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Every pro-life talk that SPUC will deliver in a school this year will involve a significant ongoing financial investment.
* SPUC school talks require professional staff to research, design and produce first-class educational materials. Then there is the behind-the-scenes work that goes on too—including speaker selection, training and managing appointments.

Estimated cost: £246K

Legal challenges are another vital weapon that SPUC holds in its armoury to defend unborn babies.
* In addition to its legal bid to block full-scale abortion rollout in Northern Ireland, SPUC is currently paying for legal aid for a woman who was forced to abort her unborn child and who fell victim of the UK’s enormous abortion coercion problem.

Estimated cost: £162K

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While abortion giants like Marie Stopes and IPPF receive millions in government handouts, SPUC doesn’t receive a penny from the UK Government or The National Lottery.

With food inflation running at around 16%, a growing number of our donors—particularly those with young families—are struggling to support SPUC financially at the level they once did.

SPUC’s head of fundraising informed me today that income from postal appeals has dropped by 24% year-on-year.

I’m sure you know that when revenue drops, cuts must be made somewhere to balance the books and it would be a tragedy if SPUC were forced to reduce its outreach to schools.

Can I call on your help TODAY so that SPUC can continue to be a voice for unborn children in schools and elsewhere?

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Backed by kind donations of £20 and £30 and £50 the Society’s work in schools, in the courts and in the UK Parliaments and Assemblies has saved many thousands of lives over the years, and with your continued support they can do so again.

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Donations of or £250 or £500 or £1,000 or more have an incredible effect too. Without them, major investment in projects like SPUC’s school speakers programme would simply not be possible.

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Thank you sincerely for your great love and support for unborn babies.

Yours in defence of life,
John Deighan
Chief Executive

PS: Our opponents are furious that SPUC is permitted into schools. They fear exposure should pupils get access to ALL the FACTS about abortion.

My biggest fear is that our opponents won’t be satisfied with the raft of new laws they are pushing through which stop women from accessing life-saving help at abortion centres, but will demand that the full horrific facts about abortion are censored in schools.

While the right to life is the foundation and prerequisite for all other human rights, freedom of expression and freedom of assembly are essential for the protection of fundamental rights guaranteed in both domestic and international law.

SPUC relies 100% on people like you, who care, to fund its work. However big or small, your donation will help to safeguard the public platform we need to speak up for unborn children.

That’s why as we commemorate 56 bloody years of the Abortion Act, I must urge you to support SPUC’s campaign to uphold freedom of speech and assembly, as well as its other important work, by making a contribution today if you can.

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