Scottish Catholic Observer

A young political activist who stood against the crowd in defence of unborn children has urged others to do the same.

Caitlin Keeper, a third year veterinary biology student at Glasgow University, was the only person who spoke against a motion promoting abortion at the SNP Youth national conference last weekend.

The youth wing of the party voted overwhelmingly in support of ‘a woman’s right to choose’ and resolved ‘that the reproductive rights of women in Scotland, and their ability to access to safe, legal and free abortion through the National Health Service, should not be undermined.’

The motion looked as if it would pass by acclamation, when Ms Keeper, a parishioner at Holy Family in Mossend in Motherwell Diocese, felt she had to speak out.

“It was incredibly difficult to stand up and speak against the resolution for protection of abortion rights, knowing the vast majority of the room did not share my views on such a sensitive topic,” she said. “But it looked like it would pass by acclamation. I knew if I spoke at least that my views would be minuted.

“I explained that the legislation that allows abortion had first been passed for special circumstances and now it has escalated into an alternative method of contraception. I also said I don’t believe it’s detrimental to women’s rights to vote against abortion legislation. The foetus has a different genome from the mother—I believe that’s a new person.”

Impressive speech

Her intervention ensured there would be a vote on the issue at the SNP Youth event. The group is affiliated with but separate from the SNP, and only SNP members between 14 and 30 can join.

“Only five or six people voted against the motion,” she said. “There was nearly fifty people there, so not many, but afterwards people did come up to me and say they were impressed with my speech and that they admired me for standing up for what I believed in. So I think it did make an impact.”

Ms Keeper said that though many young people think abortion is acceptable, ‘it has to be a conscience issue’ and said she hoped the SNP and other parties would continue to allow a free vote on it.

“What would help, is if more people who are against it speak out,” she said. “There is a stigma to speak up against it. It was really difficult for me. I feared I’d be judged afterwards but I felt a lot better for doing it.”

Scientific position

Miss Keeper said that though she was a Catholic, she would be against abortion even if she wasn’t.

“I study science so it is a big ethical thing in my degree research,” she said. “A foetus has half the mother’s genome and half the father’s: that’s a new person. It is as black and white as that really. I don’t think as a person we should deny another person the right to exist. If we try and stick up for vulnerable people in society, well, you don’t get anyone more vulnerable than the unborn.”

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—This story ran in full in the November 4 edition print of the SCO, available in parishes.