Scottish nationalists have selected a politician committed to legalising abortion up to birth as the leader of the country’s governing party.
Humza Yousaf, a Muslim of Pakistani origin, is the new First Minister of the Scottish National Party, replacing Nicola Sturgeon who resigned in February amid controversy over her policies to allow people to change gender by self-identification.
Mr Yousaf has promised to bring forward abortion decriminalisation proposals in the “current parliament term”, a policy which pro-life groups say will mean abortion up to birth and for any reason.
At present, the procedure is permitted under the 1967 Abortion Act only within the first 24 weeks of pregnancy and thereafter only to end the lives of babies with disabilities.
According to Right to Life, the proposed change to the law would leave Scotland with one of the most extreme abortion regimes in the world.
The change would position Scotland drastically away from the European Union, where the most common abortion time limit among EU countries is 12 weeks.
Catherine Robinson of Right to Life said: “Removing abortion from the criminal law would introduce abortion on demand, for any reason, up to birth in Scotland, along with legalising sex-selective abortion.”
“Humza Yousaf has committed to a change to abortion law, proposed by radical pro-abortion campaigners, that would see the upper time limit completely abolished in Scotland.
“Abortion would be available on demand, for any reason, right through to birth. This means abortion throughout pregnancy.
“Polling shows that this extreme proposal is not supported by women, with only one per cent of women wanting the abortion time limit to be increased right through to birth.”
She added: “Humza Yousaf should be committing to bringing forward sensible new restrictions and increased support for women with unplanned pregnancies.
“This would ensure we were working together as a society to reduce the tragic number of abortions that happen each year.”
Polling from Savanta ComRes on whether time limits for abortion should be increased showed that only one per cent of British women wanted the time limit to be extended to more than 24 weeks and one per cent wanted it to be increased right through to birth, in contrast to 70 per cent of women who favoured a reduction in time limits.
The election of Mr Yousaf comes after his nearest rival was subjected to an “insidious” smear campaign because of her Christian beliefs.
Kate Forbes, the 32-year-old SNP finance secretary was criticised as unsuitable because of her membership of the Free Church of Scotland and her personal convictions about the morality of abortion and same-sex marriage.
The Scottish bishops were so disturbed by the attack that they issued a statement to say the vilification of Ms Forbes “[has] left many citizens seriously concerned over the negative characterisation of religion in civic life”.
“These concerns focus on two interconnected issues: disqualification from political leadership and the silencing of conscience in general. We share these concerns.
“Regarding leadership, it has been suggested that Kate Forbes MSP is unsuited to leading her party and to becoming First Minister because of her religious convictions.
“We feel obliged to restate the well-established civic principle, that holding or expressing religious beliefs and values does not and should not debar any individual from leadership in public office.”
The bishops added: “Regarding the silencing of conscience in general, we are particularly troubled by the increasing prevalence of political parties removing the right of conscience from their parliamentarians on votes involving contentious moral issues.
“Such actions inhibit freedom and are insidiously conformist in nature. They compromise open and honest debate and risk marginalising minority groups.”
The bishops noted that the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion are fundamental human rights and that an individual’s religion and belief are protected characteristics in UK equalities legislation.
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