Saturday 22nd April Edinburgh 11am-1pm
THIS MORNING (Saturday), Abortion Rights Scotland is celebrating the fifty-fifth anniversary of the date the 1967 Abortion Act became law in England, Scotland, and Wales, from eleven am to 1pm on Lothian Road Edinburgh – Usher Hall side – because on the other side of the road, SPUC (the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child) are holding their protest against access safe, legal, local abortion, provided and delivered by the NHS.
The SPUC protest against safe legal abortion and the feminist celebration of the Abortion Act, are both now in their tenth year – two years missed because of lockdown.
Audrey Brown, retired NHS abortion care consultant, says: “NHS Scotland has long supported women to make their own choices about pregnancy.
“Abortion care is extremely safe, and in fact is safer than continuing a pregnancy. NHS doctors, nurses and midwives working in abortion care are trained to provide a safe and supportive service.
“The majority of women now choose early medical abortion in the privacy of their own home. Restricting access to abortion won’t stop abortion, it will push it underground and make it less safe. We must continue to support free, safe and legal NHS abortion care.”
The counter-vigil against the anti-abortion protest, is both in support of the continuing right to safe, legal, local abortion in Scotland, provided and delivered by the NHS, but also standing with people in countries like Poland and the United States, where the anti-abortion movement has achieved its goal of denying free access to safe legal abortion.
SPUC’s frequent assertion is that they want to make this essential reproductive healthcare “unthinkable” – and most people in Scotland oppose that goal.
SPUC has organised a ‘Pro Life Chain’ event from 11am – 1pm
Organisers say: ‘Remember the lives hurt and lost through abortion by attending SPUC’s 2023 Pro-Life Chain. This peaceful act of witness spreads the message that abortion kills unborn children and hurts women and families.’
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