Dear
SPUC supporter,
Happy New Year! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas.
We’re only a week into 2026, but threats to life at its beginning and end are already firmly back on the agenda.
Scrutiny in the Lords on the Leadbeater assisted suicide bill continues on Friday, with Day 5 of the Committee stage. Desperate to get it passed, Lord Falconer will raise a non-binding motion later today, calling for more Parliamentary time.
All our resources on this Bill, including a tool to write to members of the House of Lords can be found on the campaign page.
There is also an urgent threat in Wales, with the Senedd due to vote on a legislative consent motion on 20th January, which would allow assisted suicide to be introduced in Wales. If you didn’t get my email aimed at supporters in Wales, you can see it below:
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In Scotland, we currently expect the final stage and vote on the McArthur assisted suicide bill to take place in March. Before that can happen, the Westminster Government will have to approve a Section 30 order allowing ministers at Holyrood to approve the lethal substances needed for such a regime. A statutory instrument to that effect has been tabled, and we will let you know when it is to be debated in Parliament. In the meantime, supporters in Scotland should keep contacting your MSPs, asking them to oppose Liam McArthur’s Bill.
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However, the big threat we need to turn our attention to in the coming weeks is the decriminalisation of abortion. As you know, MPs passed an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill, which would remove women from the criminal law regarding abortion, effectively permitting self-induced abortion at any gestation, for any reason.
The Crime and Policing Bill has now passed to the House of Lords for debate and scrutiny. As the amendment was incorporated into the Bill, the clause on decriminalising abortion is now Clause 191 of the Crime and Policing Bill.
The Lords debated the Bill at Second Reading on 16th October 2025, with peers who spoke on the subject opposing the policy by almost three to one. The Bill is now at Committee stage, where peers can suggest amendments. Those related to abortion have been grouped together, and will be debated on the last day of committee stage. This is currently set for 27th January 2026, but an extra day has been allocated and so abortion may be debated on 2nd February. Amendments tabled include removing Clause 191 from the Bill, ending the Bills by post policy, and mandatory investigations for underage abortions.
Please write to members of the House of Lords and ask them to fight the extreme abortion up to birth amendment. This was not in any manifesto. It was passed after just 43 minutes backbench debate, with very little notice. The public did not know this was coming – and are outraged that MPs have voted through this barbaric policy. The Lords can and must fight back.
Please use our tool to contact members of the House of Lords. It will generate a Peer at random for you to write to, and bring up an editable template. Please edit this template to put it in your own words, and to include your own concerns and experiences. Once you have finished your letter, it will be emailed to you to print off and send to the Peer by post. Alternatively, you can opt to send your message by email, though paper letters are always more impactful than emails.
You can contact as many Peers as you are able to (but send the letters in separate envelopes).
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Thank you for your support. Let’s do everything we can to protect life in 2026!
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Alithea Williams
Public Policy Manager
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