Holyrood’s new health committee convener, Helen McDade MSP, has been criticised after a recently surfaced video shows her drawing a comparison between pregnant women seeking abortions and “feral cats”.
Heidi Stewart, Chief Executive of BPAS, said:
"Given their recent appointment as Convener of the Health and Social Care Committee, we are concerned by recent comments made by Helen McDade about abortion care, including suggestions that women cannot be trusted when seeking treatment and opposition to reforms designed to ensure women are not subject to criminal sanctions for ending their own pregnancies. Such views sit uneasily alongside modern clinical practice and the recommendations of the Scottish Government's own independent Abortion Law Expert Group, which concluded that Scotland's abortion framework is in need of progressive reform. Every four days, a woman in Scotland is forced to travel to England for abortion care. To protect the health and wellbeing of the women of Scotland, politicians must look to expand – not restrict further – access to abortion.
"One in three women will have an abortion during their lifetime. They deserve confidence that decisions affecting their healthcare will be guided by evidence, clinical expertise, and their lived realities — not personal belief. We hope the new Convener will approach these issues with the openness and objectivity that role demands."
ENDS
The full article is available here.
For further comment, please contact Katherine O’Brien, Head of Campaigns and Communications at BPAS, on 07881 265276 or email katherine.obrien@bpas.org
About BPAS
The British Pregnancy Advisory Service, BPAS, is a charity that sees over 100,000 women a year for reproductive healthcare services including pregnancy counselling, abortion care, miscarriage management and contraception at clinics across Great Britain.
BPAS exists to further women’s reproductive choices. We believe women are best placed to make their own decisions about contraception, pregnancy, abortion and birth. Women deserve evidence-based information on which to make their choices and we campaign for comprehensive reproductive healthcare services to enable them to exercise those choices.
BPAS also runs the Centre for Reproductive Research and Communication, CRRC. Through rigorous multidisciplinary research and impactful communication, the CRRC aims to inform policy, practice, and public discourse. You can find out more here.