BPAS, a major UK abortion provider, has launched a new festive campaign offering free contraception over Christmas.
BPAS are now offering women the opportunity to stock up with free morning-after pills following a short telephone conversation with a nurse. The pills will then be sent to clients in the post for free. The abortion provider claims that the initiative will reduce the number of unplanned pregnancies it deals with following the Christmas period.
The advert has been criticised for encouraging a carefree attitude to sex and its potential consequences. Pro-life groups have likened BPAS’ offer to a pizza delivery service where after-the-event contraception is only a phone call away.
BPAS does not currently have any safeguards in place to prohibit under-16 year olds from requesting the service, yet under-16 year olds usually need a prescription to receive the morning-after pill.
Dr Peter Saunders, of the Christian Medical Fellowship, commented that the scheme was an “unfortunate, ill-conceived opportunistic knee-jerk response to Britain’s spiralling epidemic of unplanned pregnancy, abortion and sexually transmitted disease amongst teenagers”.
Cristina Odone, writing in the Daily Telegraph, commented:
“No one seems to understand that the earnest folk at the British Pregnancy Advisory Service are also making money out of abortion consumption .... These organisations do offer women abortions free of charge through the NHS; but they are private providers who get £60 million a year from the Department of Health for their services.
“When they come up with new ways of making their services accessible, the beneficiaries are not the girls who, nursing a hangover and blurred memories of a very ropey encounter, decide to ring for medical intervention; no, the ones who benefit are the "charity" abortionists, who have cleverly devised a way of raising their profile – just in time for Christmas.”
A study was published this year in the Journal of Health Economics which found that morning-after pills don’t cut teen pregnancy, but instead increase the risk of sexually transmitted diseases. The study found that a Government scheme to give teenagers the morning-after pill free of charge at pharmacies simply encouraged young people to have unprotected sex.
Links
Daily Telegraph: Morning after campaign ‘vulgar’
Daily Telegraph (Blog): Cristina Odone
Dr Peter Saunders’ Blog: Morning after pills don’t cut teenage pregnancies
Christian Concern: Free morning-after pills have no impact on teenage pregnancy rates