Thanks to your support this year, a major attempt to hijack the UK Government’s flagship Domestic Abuse Bill with two extreme abortion proposals failed, in a major pro-life victory.
Unfortunately, this is not the end for our opposition.
MPs and peers that we work with have made it clear that next year we will be facing an even bigger challenge from our opposition than we did last year.
This is a bit of a long read but it is critical you know the full story. We wanted to make sure you knew what we are up against and just how many vulnerable lives are at risk.
OUR OPPOSITION’S PLAN FOR 2021 – THE TRIPLE THREAT
In 2021 we will be facing major threats on not one but three separate fronts.
The first threat will be from the abortion lobby, who have made it clear that they want to further exploit the COVID-19 crisis to have the temporary provision allowing ‘DIY’ home abortions to take place made permanent.
Previously abortions could only take place in hospitals or abortion clinics approved by the Secretary of State. Under the temporary policy, women can perform their own abortion at home by taking both sets of abortion pills in a medical abortion themselves, meaning they deliver their dead unborn child at home without direct medical supervision.
The policy has not only accompanied a large increase in the number of lives ended by abortion, but also been linked to a number of serious incidents where women’s lives have been put at risk while performing their abortion at home.
The Scottish, English and Welsh Governments are all currently undertaking consultations on whether to end this temporary provision or make it permanent. The abortion lobby is ramping up its campaign to effectively cover up the significant safety issues with the scheme, with a goal of having ‘DIY’ home abortions, which will mean very large cost savings for their organisations, made permanent in the UK.
Make no mistake, this isn’t about providing safe healthcare – this is about the abortion industry making money at the expense of human lives.
The second threat will be from the abortion lobby coming back with another attempt to introduce an extreme abortion law.
Although their attempt failed this year, we are expecting that there will be another Government Bill brought forward in 2021 that they will attempt to hijack and use as a vehicle to introduce extreme changes to abortion legislation.
We know that the abortion provider, BPAS, is pouring large amounts of money into expanding their lobbying and campaigning capabilities to secure this change in 2021, and a number of elected MPs pledged to support this change in the run-up to the election at the end of last year.
This campaign has been very clear about what they want – abortion on demand, for any reason, up to birth.
The third threat will come from the assisted suicide lobby.
The Government Bill that we expect to be brought forward in 2021 will also likely provide an opportunity for the assisted suicide lobby to bring forward an amendment to legalise assisted suicide.
The assisted suicide lobby, led by the multi-million pound outfit, Dignity in Dying, is currently running a large campaign in Parliament, through the media and online to put pressure on the Government to reconsider the legalisation of assisted suicide. This appears to be the first phase of their campaign ahead of bringing forward an amendment to introduce assisted suicide to the UK.
If these three major threats from our opposition are successful, it would be a disaster. Thousands of lives would be lost. We can’t sit on the sidelines and watch these extreme anti-life changes become a reality.
WE ARE THEREFORE GOING TO BE LAUNCHING A HIGHLY TARGETED NATIONWIDE INITIATIVE TO DEFEAT THESE THREE THREATS IN 2021
Our campaign to defeat the abortion lobby in 2020 was the largest we have ever run. 2021 will see us fighting on not just one, but three separate fronts, so this initiative will be much larger.
The initiative will be focused on three key areas:
- Parliament – As MPs and peers will ultimately be deciding if these proposals are to go ahead, we will be speaking directly with as many MPs and peers as possible, with persuasive messaging on the serious problems with these proposals, and we will educate them on positive pro-life alternatives.
- Media – These proposals can only be defeated in Parliament if it is clear to MPs and peers that the wider culture is against these drastic changes. A key part of ensuring this is to place as many sensible pro-life voices in the mainstream media in 2021. We will be training up a large group of spokespeople from a variety of backgrounds who will regularly speak against the proposals in the media.
- Grassroots – We now have a very large grassroots pro-life network in constituencies throughout the UK, but to defeat these threats we will need many more people onboard. We will be working to build an even larger grassroots movement of people who will constantly be making it clear to their MPs that they should oppose these dangerous proposals. This will be joined by a strong digital component that will be utilising our digital team’s experience to change the hearts and minds of a new generation online. The initiative will reach millions of people, utilising cutting-edge video, motion graphics and effectively telling the stories of those who will be most negatively impacted by these changes.
These next 12 months are going to be absolutely vital to defeat this massive push and we need the financial resources in place to ensure that vulnerable lives are protected right across the UK.
Unlike the abortion providers who are leading the campaign to introduce extreme changes to abortion law, we don’t get any funding from the Government, and we certainly don’t get surpluses associated with performing ten of thousands of abortions each year. We rely on the generosity of people like you to continue our life-saving work.
THE ABORTION LOBBY CAN ONLY BE STOPPED WITH YOUR HELP
You have seen the very large impact that your support has had over the last year. With your help, we can be even more impactful – we can save even more lives.
This work will, however, make a huge dent in Right To Life UK’s limited resources.
For this initiative to be effective, we must raise at least £200,000 by midnight on 31 December 2020.
We are, therefore, appealing to you to please give as generously as you can. Every donation, no matter how small, will go towards saving the lives of the unborn and many others.
WE NEED TO RAISE THESE FUNDS BY MIDNIGHT ON 31 DECEMBER
The Scottish, English and Welsh Governments are closing their consultations on whether to make ‘DIY’ home abortions permanent in January and February, so our campaigning on this threat will need to hit the ground running at the start of 2021.
Amendments to introduce an extreme abortion law and assisted suicide will likely be brought forward to a Government Bill.
If our opposition were to bring these proposals forward in a Private Members Bill, we would have many months’ notice to prepare for an introduction of the Bill to Parliament.
With the amendment approach we expect them to take, we will have maximum notice of a couple of weeks, and possibly only a couple of days before we know it is being brought forward to Parliament and being voted on.
I am not going to sugarcoat this. If we wait until a couple of weeks before these votes to launch our campaigns against these two separate threats, we will lose.
We, therefore, need the resources in place by the end of this year so that we can have these initiatives up and running at the start of the new year.
This will ensure that we have enough time to educate politicians, the media and the wider public on the large negative impact these proposals will have, but we can only do this with your help.
If you believe that this extreme anti-life legislation must be stopped, please make a donation right now.
Thank you for your support of the thousands of vulnerable lives at risk during this critical time.
