Scottish Catholic Observer

Scotland’s chief medical officer Dr Catherine Calderwood paved the way for home abortions last year, prompting a legal challenge from the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children Scotland, who argued that the procedure was unsafe and illegal.

However, the challenge was dismissed by judge Lady Wise following a two day hearing earlier this year at the Court of Session, in Edinburgh.

Following the setback, SPUC Scotland’s chief executive John Deighan said: “We are extremely disappointed that our concerns have not been upheld.”

The abortion plan involves giving the drug Misoprostol to women that they can take in their own home, inducing termination.

Judge Wise rejected SPUC’s two main arguments, which cited the 1967 Abortion Act that states that the law ‘was not intended to allow abortions to take place at home,’ and that should a woman take an abortifacient drug at home, it is ‘not consistent’ with the Abortion Act, which demands the presence of a trained medical practitioner.

The judge concluded that a woman taking abortion medication at home ‘may still be described as being treated by their medical practitioner, who remains in charge of that treatment.’

The move to allow abortions in the home was set in motion by chief medical officer Dr Catherine Calderwood after Westminster devolved abortion responsibilities to the Scottish Parliament in 2016.

Mr Deighan said: “Our position remains the same despite this judgement.

“We maintain the belief that our arguments convincingly exposed the unlawfulness of the actions taken by the Scottish Government which are in contravention of the law.

“We will give thorough consideration of the judgement but at the forefront of our thoughts is the expectation that we will appeal the decision.

“We owe it to our supporters who continue to make donations to cover our legal costs. Discussions have already started with our legal representatives.”

He said that the abortion pill policy ‘trivialises’ the ‘terrible ordeal’ medical abortion inflicts on women, saying: “For the sake of women’s health and the universal right to life we cannot stand idly by whilst such a detrimental measure is implemented in the name of health care.”

“We continue to be alarmed at the Scottish Government’s policies to liberalise abortion, this is hard to square with their other commitments on health and human rights.
“The effect of so many decades of propaganda and emotional manipulation has clouded the judgment of so many people when it comes to abortion. It is outside the realms of reason to uphold universal human rights on the one hand and then make laws to permit the ending of innocent human lives on the other.

“The neglect of the damage that abortion has on women is reprehensible and will one day demand an answer as to why it has been allowed to go on so long. The lax attitude towards abortion has also allowed widespread coercion of women to have abortions.

“Rather than really being about a woman’s choice it has so often become an option which women are pushed towards when their pregnancy is inconvenient to others.

“So many women will afterwards say that they had no choice other than abortion. This compounds the mental suffering that post-abortive women endure.”