Society for the Protection of Unborn Children is an

anti-abortion Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life or abolitionist movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in respo ...

organisation in the United Kingdom which also opposes

assisted suicide Assisted suicide is suicide undertaken with the aid of another person. The term usually refers to physician-assisted suicide (PAS), which is suicide that is assisted by a physician or other healthcare provider. Once it is determined that the p ...

and

abortifacient An abortifacient ("that which will cause a miscarriage" from Latin: '' abortus'' "miscarriage" and '' faciens'' "making") is a substance that induces abortion. This is a nonspecific term which may refer to any number of substances or medications ...

birth control.

History and support

SPUC was formed in 1966 amid parliamentary debates over the

Abortion Act The Abortion Act 1967 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom legalising abortions on certain grounds by registered practitioners, and regulating the tax-paid provision of such medical practices through the National Health Service (NHS ...

, which came into law one year later. Although it is not officially

faith Faith, derived from Latin ''fides'' and Old French ''feid'', is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or In the context of religion, one can define faith as "belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion". Religious people often ...

-based, SPUC and the more conservative anti-abortion charity Life mainly draw upon

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

and

evangelical Protestant Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual exp ...

support. Between 2020 and 2022 the group receieved over £72,000 from US donors who used an agency to disguise their identity.

Resignation of Bowman

SPUC founder

Phyllis Bowman Phyllis Joyce Bowman, DSG (14 March 1926 – 7 May 2012) was a British journalist and anti-abortion, anti-euthanasia (pro-life) campaigner. Early life and career Bowman was born on 14 March 1926 in Bournemouth, Hampshire, England. Daughter o ...

resigned from her post in July 1999, with nearly half of the 12-person national executive resigning in sympathy. This was believed to be because of a rift with SPUC national director John Smeaton over the organisation's strategies. The Pro-Life All-Party Parliamentary Group, headed by the then-

Shadow Home Secretary In British politics, the Shadow Home Secretary (formally known as the Shadow Secretary of State for the Home Department) is the person within the shadow cabinet who shadows the Home Secretary; this effectively means scrutinising government poli ...

Ann Widdecombe Ann Noreen Widdecombe (born 4 October 1947) is a British politician, author and television personality. She was Member of Parliament (MP) for Maidstone and The Weald, and the former Maidstone constituency, from 1987 to 2010 and Member of t ...

, met with SPUC to discuss concerns that following Bowman's resignation, the organisation may divert resources from the political arena and seek greater realignment with the Catholic Church, alienating Protestant, Muslim and atheist supporters of SPUC.

Tony Nicklinson right-to-die case

SPUC opposed

locked-in syndrome Locked-in syndrome (LIS), also known as pseudocoma, is a condition in which a patient is aware but cannot move or communicate verbally due to complete paralysis of nearly all voluntary muscles in the body except for vertical eye movements and bli ...

sufferer

Tony Nicklinson This is a list of notable people with locked-in syndrome, a syndrome where a patient is conscious and self-aware but is completely paralyzed. Gil Avni Israeli citizen Gil Avni, then 33, experienced ''complete locked-in syndrome'' (CLIS) at ...

's legal battle for a right to assisted death.

Marriage

SPUC has opposed

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being Mexico, constituting ...

. On 18 June 2019, the media reported that the organisation did a leaflet drop in

Sneinton Sneinton (pronounced "Snenton") is a suburb of Nottingham, England. The area is bounded by Nottingham city centre to the west, Bakersfield to the north, Colwick to the east, and the River Trent to the south. Sneinton lies within the unitary a ...

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

alongside a letter for parents asking for their child to be withdrawn from Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) lessons. This backfired as some residents in the area condemned the action and, in an interview on

BBC Radio Nottingham BBC Radio Nottingham is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Nottinghamshire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios on London Road in Nottingham city centre. According to RAJAR, the station has a ...

, the leader of

Nottingham City Council Nottingham City Council is the local authority for the Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority of Nottingham in Nottinghamshire, England. It consists of 55 councillors, representing a total of 20 Wards of the United Kingdom, wards, elect ...

confirmed that no letters had been handed in at any school.

References

External links

Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, UK
Anti-abortion organisations in the United Kingdom 1970 establishments in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 1970 {{poli-org-stub