STOP PRESS: Last week two dangerous amendments to the Government's Criminal Justice Bill were tabled by pro-abortion Labour MPs Dame Diana Johnson and Stella Creasy.
If passed, the amendments would remove abortion from the UK criminal law relating to the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 and the Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929.
- The Johnson Amendment would mean a woman could carry out her own abortion at ANY time, for ANY reason.
- The Creasy Amendment would decriminalise concealing the body of a dead baby who dies before, during or after birth.
Former SPUC Research Director Kevin Duffy, a prominent expert in this area, last week spoke of an “unprecedented increase in abortion numbers this year.”
Quoting data from UK abortion provider Maries Stopes, Kevin believes that abortions for 2023 in England and Wales may reach as high as 325,000.
- That would be an ADDITIONAL 78,562 unborn babies killed in just one year - up 32% from a projected record high 246,438 abortion killings in 2022.
Much of that increase can be put down to the ease with which DIY abortion kits can be obtained today—which is why I urgently need your help to stop the pills-by-post scheme.
The SECOND reason I am writing is that it has come to light that BPAS is sending out DIY ABORTION KITS—which could prove FATAL to women and girls.
READ ON TO LEARN MORE:
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I want to draw your attention to a very troubling issue that has been brought to my notice that could have fatal consequences for any woman or girl who uses a BPAS DIY abortion kit.
The DIY pills-by-post scheme was introduced in the UK as an ‘emergency’ measure during the first Covid lockdown (in March 2020.)
Despite serious concerns raised by SPUC and others at the time, Parliament voted to make the scheme ‘permanent’ last summer.
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I have written previously about the risks the pills-by-post scheme poses for women, including:
1. Rocketing AMBULANCE CALLOUTS to women taking abortion pills outside of a clinical setting:
- In England, callouts for such cases rose by 64% in 2020
- In Wales the same year, they DOUBLED.
2. A dramatic surge in HOSPITALISATIONS due to abortion “complications”
Freedom of Information Request responses reveal that ‘complication rates’ for abortions have soared by more than FOURFOLD—from 1.7 women per 1,000 to 7.5 per 1,000.
- 495 women per month had attended a hospital due to incomplete abortions
- 250 women a month had required surgery to remove “retained products of conception”.
But if that wasn’t bad enough, it now emerges that BPAS is sending women abortion kits through the post with a pain-killing drug that could potentially prove FATAL.
BPAS PLAYING FAST AND LOOSE WITH PAIN KILLER
Concerns centre around the painkilling drug, CODEINE PHOSPHATE.
Abortion providers often liken the pain induced by a chemical (pill) abortion to that of a heavy period, a condition known as dysmenorrhea, and that’s why they put codeine in their abortion kits.
But doing so raises a number of serious safety concerns:
- Prescribing codeine for dysmenorrhea runs counter to NICE guidelines
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) – the body tasked by the government with providing best-practice public health guidance for the UK – recommends anti-inflammatory drugs, like ibuprofen, for dysmenorrhea – NOT analgesic (pain-killing drugs) that contain codeine phosphate (like co-codamol).
- Open to abuse by anyone looking to illegally “cash in” on the scheme
Codeine phosphate is a Class B controlled drug.
The UK already has a significant problem with patients illicitly selling their opioid pill prescriptions to addicts and drug dealers.
This summer, Greater Manchester Police’s Operation Vulcan dismantled a drug and money laundering operation which involved an estimated £2 million worth of prescription drugs.
The pills-by-post scheme’s dangers are exacerbated by a system known as “Telemedicine”.
No face-to-face contact is required with a doctor so a women can obtain an abortion kit containing codeine phosphate simply by answering a few questions over the telephone.
- Patient’s answers can NOT be verified before abortion kits are issued.
- No pregnancy test is required—so even women who aren’t pregnant could easily get hold of the drug for free.
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3. Specific situations in which a medicine should not be used because it may be harmful to a woman (known as ‘contraindications’) could be missed
Reliance on telemedicine means that some important contraindications could be missed, putting patients at further risk.
(For instance, doctors would generally avoid prescribing codeine phosphate if a patient had a history of opiate addiction as doing so may re-trigger an addiction.)
4. Overdose Danger
While all UK abortion providers include codeine phosphate in their DIY abortion kits, it’s the total POTENCY of the codeine tablets contained in the BPAS abortion kit that is so alarming.
Taking all 28 codeine phosphate tablets contained in the BPAS kit over a 24-hour period would be almost DOUBLE the safe daily recommended dosage.
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5. Suicide risk enhanced
Taken with alcohol, the tablets can lead to intensified intoxication.
Judgment becomes significantly impaired when alcohol and codeine are combined.
Intoxication may facilitate risk-taking behaviour—like drink driving—or it could make vulnerable women with mental health issues more susceptible to suicide.
To compound matters, BPAS is the UK’s biggest abortion provider.
That means BPAS is sending out more pills than anybody else so most women will be receiving the more dangerous “high-dosage” DIY abortion kits.
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ENDING THE PILLS-BY-POST SCHEME IS SPUC'S NUMBER ONE OBJECTIVE
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It’s why we have just launched SPUC's new Justice for Baby Lily campaign.
Baby Lily was the unborn daughter of the woman convicted and imprisoned this summer under the Offences Against the Persons Act (OAPA) for illegally procuring an abortion.
Tragically, Lily didn’t survive the abortion.
Lily’s mum was sent a BPAS DIY abortion kit when 32-34 weeks (around 8 months) pregnant — despite the legal limit being 10 weeks.
Within minutes of the sentence being handed down at Stoke crown court, BPAS had launched a campaign to repeal the OAPA in a bid to make the Abortion Act redundant.
If the law changes, abortion in the UK would effectively be “de-criminalised” and a woman could demand an abortion right up to BIRTH for any REASON in any PLACE.
But the good news is that by ENDING the DIY abortion scheme, OVERNIGHT we could dramatically CUT the number of unborn babies killed by abortion in the UK.
The Justice for Baby Lily campaign is deploying a range of campaign actions (some brand NEW) to alert UK women about the dangers involved with the pills-by-post scheme.
1. In January, SPUC launches its new Heart-to-Heart project. Heart-to-Heart is modelled on the UK’s biggest pro-life youth outreach programme, SPUC’s groundbreaking Project Truth roadshow.
Whereas Project Truth runs over the summer months only, Heart-to-Heart will operate ALL YEAR round providing even more unique opportunities to:
- Discuss the humanity of the unborn baby with the public
- Conduct surveys that enable SPUC to make its campaigning messaging more effective
- Collect petition signatures to press for pro-life laws
- Challenge abortion propaganda and impart FACTUAL information about the harm abortion visits on women
- Provide crisis pregnancy helpline numbers.
Estimated Cost: £35,000
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2. Media coverage can make or break campaigns, and garnering positive coverage for the pro-life cause is always an uphill struggle.
The services of a professional media consultant will be essential if we are to alert women about the potentially fatal BPAS abortion packs.
This investment paid off earlier this year when a SPUC investigation into UK government aid found that tens of millions of taxpayers’ money was going overseas to countries with coercive abortion policies.
The Daily Mail and GB News both featured in-depth reports on SPUC’s report on aid to China and Senior Tory MP Tim Loughton called on the UK Government to end financial aid to China.
Estimated cost: £22,000
Will you help bring the deadly abortion Pills-by-Post Scheme to an end by helping us WARN women of the deadly impact that it is having?
Crucial donations of £20 or £35 or £50 or £75 or £100 of £250 or £500 or more enable SPUC to mount essential campaigns like this and save lives.
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When the Society was formed 57 years ago, SPUC was massively outspent by a far wealthier pro-abortion lobby.
That’s still the case today.
And that’s why I am always extremely thankful and hugely humbled when SPUC receives larger donations of £1,000 or £2,500 or £5,000 (sometimes more) to defend babies.
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Without your support SPUC could not:
- Implement major public outreach projects, such as Heart-to-Heart
- Employ professional media consultants to ensure that the public hear our message
- Take on the government in the courts—like our current legal challenge to the Northern Ireland Secretary of State’s stated aim of targeting 6,500 unborn babies for abortion every year.
That’s why I must urge you to send a donation today of whatever amount you can.
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Thank you for standing by our babies.
Yours in defence of life,
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PS – When the country experiences an economic downturn, donations for good causes tend to drop quite dramatically.
Unfortunately, SPUC is not immune from this.
That’s another reason why I must urge you to donate today.
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PPS - This will be the last time that I appeal to you for your financial support this year.
I am looking forward to spending Christmas at home in Glasgow with my wife and family where I will be reflecting on the challenges ahead for SPUC in the New Year.
Be assured that you and your loved ones will be in my thoughts and prayers too on the day that we commemorate the Christ Child’s entry into this world as a vulnerable baby more than 2000 years ago.
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