The pro-abortion campaign group, Doctors for Choice UK, has launched a Christmas fundraising campaign, selling Christmas cards that promote ‘DIY’ at-home abortion.
The proceeds from the sales go towards the work of Doctors for Choice UK who campaign for the “full decriminalisation of abortion across the UK” and “inspire conscientious commitment to abortion”. The full decriminalisation of abortion means that abortion would be available on demand, for any reason, up to birth. The upper time limit would be completely abolished.
One of the cards on sale depicts mistletoe, where the berries have been replaced by images of pills. Underneath it reads ‘Ho Ho Home use’, and the message inside says “Peace, love and pills in the post”. Another card shows an image of a smiling Father Christmas with the tagline “make choice great again” written on his hat.
“Peace, love and pills in the post”
The reference to “pills in the post” is to the ‘DIY’ at-home abortion schemes that now enable ending of life through abortion to take place up to 10 weeks outside of a clinical setting.
The abortion provisions that allowed abortion pills to be taken outside of a clinical setting were introduced at the end of March 2020 as part of the Government’s response to COVID-19. While this was intended to be a temporary measure, the Westminster Parliament made ‘DIY’ at-home abortion a permanent feature of the law in March 2022.
President of Doctors for Choice shares troubling views
This is not the first time there has been controversy associated with Doctors for Choice UK. The president of the pro-abortion group, Professor Wendy Savage, has previously made headlines.
On one occasion, she appears to have argued that because “babies die every week”, it was ok to “procure an abortion which led to the death of a baby”, in this case referring to a baby that was aborted at at least 32 weeks gestation, at least 8 weeks after the 24-week time limit for abortions in the UK.
In 2017, she made headlines following an interview with The Mail on Sunday during which she expressed full support for sex-selective abortion. She said “If a woman does not want to have a foetus who is one sex or the other, forcing her [to go through with the pregnancy] is not going to be good for the eventual child”.
Women and babies at risk from pills by post ‘DIY’ home abortions
Data from a number of freedom of information (FOI) requests provide an indication of the likely true extent of complications arising from ‘DIY’ abortions.
A series of FOI requests in 2021 suggested that more than 10,000 women had to receive hospital treatment following the use of medical abortion pills in England between April 2020 and September 2021.
Based on data collected from 85 Freedom of Information requests to NHS Trusts across England, the data suggests that more than 1 in 17 women who had a medical abortion over the 18-month period needed hospital treatment.
An increase in ambulance call-outs
Last year, following a FOI request to ambulance trusts in England, GB News found there had been a substantial increase in the number of women calling 999 in relation to abortion pills taken at home and an increase in ambulance dispatches.
They found that the number of call-outs relating to abortion increased in London from 93 in 2019 to 150 in 2020, a 61% increase; and in the South West, from 33 in 2019 to 74 in 2020, a 124% increase.
The ambulance trusts that responded to the FOI from GB News “show significant increases in the number of 999 calls from people concerned after taking abortion pills”. According to GB News, South East Coast Ambulance Service saw a 34% increase in 999 calls “from people concerned after taking abortion pills” from 2019 to 2020.
“Distasteful” cards trivialise lives lost to abortion
Right To Life UK spokesperson, Catherine Robinson, said “These distasteful Christmas cards trivialise a very serious matter by celebrating home-access to abortion pills that ends the lives of unborn babies”.
“Doctors for Choice UK is a group of medical professionals who should be committed to the best care of their patients, born and unborn, rather than making light of such concerning practice”.
“Christmas is a time when we should support the most vulnerable rather than raise funds to promote access to abortion pills, which end the lives of vulnerable unborn children”.
