We must not underestimate the news that the government has appointed anti-abortion group Life to their advisory group on sexual health, writes shadow health minister Diane Abbott.
Diane Abbott MP (Labour, Hackney North and Stoke Newington) is the shadow health minister
We must not underestimate the chilling news that the government has appointed anti-abortion group Life to their expert advisory group on sexual health. This appointment, coupled with the retraction of an invite to the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), one of the UK’s leading abortion providers, signals a dangerous move.
Has Anne Milton, the public health minister, bowed to pressure from the activists at Life or are we seeing the government moving away from the pro-choice agenda long favoured by our society?
This news has broken in the same week that Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Education, pledged his support for the newly-formed ‘Sex and Relationships Education Council’ whose founding members include a deadly medley of abstinence promoters and anti-abortionists including Life, Silver Ring Thing, and the Family Education Trust.
Back at the Department of Health, the members of its sexual health forum have until now included some of the UK’s best sexual health professionals, experts in their field, who have a track record of delivering and commissioning the highest levels of care.
They have built their work on evidence and provided a pro-choice agenda, giving individuals and couples the information and services to make an informed choice about their bodies, their sexual health, contraception and pregnancy.
The members of the sexual health forum have not sought to promote one agenda but to work with ministers to promote good sexual health through choice, prioritising the key issues and responding to society’s complex lives.
The same cannot be said of Life. This is the group that not only opposes abortion under any circumstances, but also opposes contraception. That stance alone speaks volumes.
Any medical professional who is serious about reducing rates of unwanted pregnancy and subsequent abortion knows that controlling fertility depends on modern methods of contraception – and that is a basic human right.
What’s more, Life’s response to birth control is encompassed in a single word. Abstinence. And we all know how unsuccessful those programmes have been in the USA, resulting in higher rates of teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections than in groups using normal, modern, 21st-century methods of family planning.
Life has perpetrated many scare stories and has even questioned the value of condoms, stating they do not protect against sexually transmitted infections including HIV. Even if pressed, Life would not support condom use.
Anti-abortionists, including members of Life, can be seen on a daily basis outside the UK’s abortion clinics, shouting abuse at women going inside and displaying grotesque posters of mutilated foetuses of an advanced gestation. They have no qualms about totally distorting the reality of abortions, 91 per cent of which were carried out at less than 13 weeks’ gestation last year
We will monitor and oppose any attempts by the government to erode or undermine this country’s sexual health professionalism and expertise and I have called for Life’s appointment to the sexual health forum to be retracted.
35 Responses to “Government leaning dangerously towards anti-abortion groups”
13eastie
What is so wrong with the Govt choosing to seek advice from a balanced selection of advisors, and hearing more than one opinion before making policy decisions?
The alternative would be to disqualify any advice that does not conform to your existing prejudices.
“West Indian mums will go to the wall for their [non-terminated] children”
Angela Phillips
The main result of this will be that the advisory group will be unable to do anything at all. Life has views that are so radically different from any of the other organisations involved that it is hard to imagine any kind of dialogue. Maybe thats what the Conservative want – a talking shop that can’t talk.
B Tank
Abortion is sickening. It in wrong, unhuman, savage and a heartless cruel barbaric act to kill and destroy an innocent unborn and deprive of an existence and live in this world wether that is foetus couple of weeks or more.
Everything that has life endures and feels pain. Be it few weeks old or not.
Just because it cannot communicate does not mean one can eliminate at their will.
Please accept my sincere apology to those who agree to abortion. I totally disagree to abortion. If you cannot create a life, why on earth destroy it.
Stephen W
What as opposed to a talking shop with strictly only one opinion? Is that the kind of conversation you prefer?
@Lorraine.
Yes, those views are supported by some people in parliament and quite a lot of people in the country. Should their views be completely suppressed because you don’t like them? The clear fact is they will be one voice among several. I see no point to have an advisory group that deliberately excludes anyone who does not share the majority opinion.
Shamik Das
Debate on the government's closeness to anti-abortionists on @BBCNewsnight 2nite; read @HackneyAbbott's article for us: http://bit.ly/lOHLEb