What makes SPUC special?

One Every Three Minutes Campaign FINAL DAY: YOU are the Real Pro-life Hero   Dear Pro-life Supporter What’s so special about SPUC?   The short answer is that it punches above its weight.   And it does so again, and again.   And that’s because of you.   And as we enter the LAST DAY of SPUC’s summer fundraiser, I cannot promise you that sending a donation today will end abortion anytime soon.   SPUC supporters are realists.   I know you appreciate that the goals we are pursuing are significant ones.   And that they won’t be won overnight.   And that there will be many more battles ahead.   Our principal goal, of course, remains and always will be, seeing abortion completely outlawed, and this is at the heart of all that we do.     This involves breaking down layer upon layer of institutional resistance at the level of: Government, the education system, the courts, and, of course, the media.   It involves overcoming a zealously ideological abortion lobby who have no desire to relinquish the powerful stranglehold which they have over women and unborn babies.   And it involves dismantling an abortion industry which is desperate to hang on to the staggeringly lucrative government funding which it enjoys. The more they kill, the more they make.   To give you one small example of that: Marie Stopes International’s chief executive, Simon Cooke, was paid £434,000 in 2018, a year in which he received a 100% performance bonus, when his organisation killed 4.8 million unborn children worldwide. I cannot promise you any miracles. What I can give you, however, is my strongest assurance that every penny SPUC receives is used for the good of unborn children.   Let me explain.   As the world’s first pro-life group—and Europe’s largest pro-life membership organisation—SPUC has battled ALL these institutions listed above, constantly, ever since its inception in January 1967.   In that time, three generations of loyal SPUC supporters—in some cases from the same family—have made this possible with their love for our babies.   While other pro-life groups have come and gone, SPUC, with people like you behind it, has been there for our babies, season-in and season-out.   And with your support, please God, the Society will see out this war until the end, however long that takes, and your children or grandchildren will see a final victory.   It’s YOU who tips the balance our babies’ way   Year-in, year-out, it is people like YOU, who guarantee that the voice of the unborn child is never silenced.   And then there are what I call the “David and Goliath” successes.   As a SPUC Supporter, you can hold your head high for the unique role that you have played in “landmark” victories which have saved many thousands of babies’ lives.   Landmark victories, defending and saving lives, like these:   Marie Stopes International abortion “adverts” on TV.     A huge SPUC grassroots campaign saw the Advertising Standards Authority receive the highest ever number of complaints for a TV commercial.   The ads STOPPED, and not one has appeared since 2010.   After intense lobbying from SPUC, the then Labour government dropped the radical anti-life, anti-family sections in its Children, Schools and Families bill.  If unopposed, this bill would have increased legal pressure on schools, including Catholic and other faith schools, to help pupils access contraception and abortion—without, of course, the knowledge of parents. A vital legal victory at the high court blocked attempts by abortion giant BPAS to facilitate macabre medical abortions at home. Legal arguments submitted by SPUC played a prominent role in the high court reaching a judgment which derailed BPAS’ plans to give women abortion drugs to take away to administer themselves. It would be a further six years (2017) before home medical abortions were finally sanctioned (by the Scottish government). Thousands of babies were saved by the delayed implementation of this abhorrent policy. SPUC backed two senior midwives who steadfastly refused to supervise abortions on a Glasgow labour ward. The pair’s brave battle of conscience went all the way to the Supreme Court in London. Though the Court’s December 2014 ruling went against Mary Doogan and Connie Wood, the midwives’ long legal battle succeeded in highlighting in a very public way a grave injustice against people of conscience working in the NHS. Rob Marris MP’s 2015 Assisted Dying Bill was defeated in Parliament and a threat to the lives of thousands of sick, elderly and dying people was averted.   MPs received hundreds of letters from SPUC supporters asking them to oppose the bill.  Some commentators even say that that strong expression of pro-life feeling among constituents has kept doctor-assisted killing laws at bay in Britain ever since.   [Meanwhile countries, like Canada, the Netherlands and Belgium, have succumbed with thousands of sick and vulnerable people being killed each year.]   And as a result of another successful campaign, the Government rejected calls from the abortion lobby for new legislation banning pro-life vigils at abortion clinics.  The 80,000 postcards sent to the Home Secretary proved pivotal in making this victory happen. And in 2018, SPUC instigated a judicial review of the Scottish Government’s policy allowing abortions to be completed at home without medical supervision.   This legal action delayed home medical abortions not only in Scotland, but also in England, where we estimate 17,000 babies’ lives were saved as a result.   Like you, I am a SPUC supporter   Indeed, every one of SPUC’s staff from the oldest to the youngest is a “supporter” first and foremost.   Like you, we just want to STOP babies being killed.   My first involvement with SPUC came as a volunteer in 1974 at a local south London branch.   When I retire from my role with SPUC later next year I will once again be a volunteer “supporter”— just like you.   I want to know that my money is not only going to a good cause, but that it is safe in the hands of a prudent organisation who are investing it wisely and that the “interests” of our babies are paramount.   The typical SPUC supporter does not own luxury yachts, nor rank in The Sunday Times “rich list”.    And that’s the way we prefer it.   Widow’s Mite   The kind £10, £25 and £50 donations we get from thousands of ordinary supporters up and down the country allow SPUC to maintain its independence.   This means that babies are NEVER abandoned.   Whether funding a campaign to combat an anti-life bill in Parliament, or donating to help SPUC intervene in a major legal case, you always respond when our babies are most under attack and in need of protection.   But when funding comes in the shape of grants from Government and big corporations, the money always comes with strings and conditions attached.   Campaigning groups and charities who rely heavily on grant money know they risk losing funding should they openly criticise the bodies providing those funds.   It is not hard to imagine scenarios where the people who a non-profit is supposed to be looking out for get overlooked because bosses don’t want to upset funders and risk the money pipeline drying up.   SPUC on the other hand, sets its own agenda.    It only ever considers what is best for unborn children, not what big funders want.   As I have remarked on many occasions, SPUC is a David fighting a Goliath.   You could now add the pharmaceutical industry (Big Pharma) and “Big Tech” to the list of powerful institutions which have set themselves against our babies. Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, has admitted that his company deliberately banned pro-life adverts from running on the social media site during the 2018 abortion referendum in Ireland. And only last week Facebook blocked the SPUC advert, below, for this fundraising campaign appearing on its platform. And now that 3-in-4 abortions in Britain today are medical ones – SPUC is fighting the commercial interests of Big Pharma too. Every single SPUC donor is a pro-life hero    Today is the Last Call for our One Every Three Minutes fundraising campaign.   The response, as you might expect, has been good. £26,793 of a £50,000 target has been raised to date. I really struggle to put into words how truly grateful I am for your kindness to our babies. And I know too that if you have not yet given, that is possibly because of constraints on your time or your finances or any number of pressing factors—life is like that.   The interests of unborn children and their mothers is 100% our focus and they come first, every time. And right now, that focus must be firmly fixed on: Repealing Section 9 of the Northern Ireland Act to restore legal protection to unborn children Stopping a radical abortion regime being exported to England, Scotland and Wales Preventing “Temporary” DIY abortions becoming “Permanent”. But the situation with Coronavirus is putting these vital campaigns in jeopardy. Normally, church collections raise around £250,000 for SPUC each year, but many churches are no longer in a position to help out because of the Covid restrictions. Not only that, but churches are where SPUC recruits many of its new members. Covid has removed this vital platform for recruiting new blood too. And our opponents have never been more powerful.  I must be honest with you and say that they are scenting victory at a time when SPUC is facing a cash crisis. The size doesn’t matter, what counts is getting involved A one-off gift of £10, £20, or £50 can do incredible good for babies in Britain today. It registers a vote for life in a world that cares so little. Larger gifts of £100, £500 and £1,000, of course can do more good, and I know sometimes circumstances may permit magnificent gifts like these. If you can afford to commit £5, £10 or £20 monthly, that is a great tribute to the unique and irreplaceable babies who are being sacrificed at the altar of “choice”. If we get over the line today, I can go to SPUC’s directors and tell them that their life-saving work in schools, in parliament (and in the courts too if the need arises) is no longer threatened with budget cuts. If everyone reading this email chipped in just £10, that would see us safely through the worst of this cash crisis, and put us on the front foot again.   Donate NOW If we cannot cover the shortfall in our budget, SPUC will have no option but to cut back and the babies will be the losers. The abortion figures for 2019 make for grim reading, with the highest ever number of babies killed by abortion.   More than 220,000 babies perished at the hands of the abortion industry last year.   We cannot let our opponents press ahead with their plans to increase the killing.   If we fail them, defenceless babies will die cruel deaths alone and be discarded like garbage in hospital sluices or in toilet bowls in people’s homes. And I know that what breaks your heart more than anything in this world is the needless slaughter of innocent babies who have no one to help them. If we fail, there will be open season on defenceless babies on a scale never before seen in this country.   Donate NOW Will you chip in to protect babies today?  I always say that no gift is ever too small. No matter the amount, it will go to work immediately to save lives. It’s true that the odds, as ever, are heavily stacked against us. But a donation – even one of £10 - could swing things our way and help pull off another remarkable David v Goliath victory for our babies.   Donate NOW If you can be sure of anything, it’s that SPUC will always punch above its weight. …as it has done so many times in the past. And it will do so again, and again, so long as it has your support. Thank you for your great love and loyal commitment to our unborn babies. Yours in defence of life John Smeaton Chief Executive PS: It’s vital for the survival of our babies that the SPUC family continues to grow.  Churches are currently unable to help us fulfil that function, so we must find new ways to attract new members into the pro-life family. Please let a friend or family member know about the critical role that SPUC plays in defending babies in Britain.   If you can, ask them to donate for a baby today.   Donate NOW Copyright © SPUC 2020  All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: 3, Whitacre Mews, Stannary Street, London SE11 4AB Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.