A mother has praised the support she received from pro-life activists outside an abortion centre, saying they gave her the “hope” she was searching for and had it not been for them her “beautiful daughter would not be here today”.
Alina Dulgheriu shared her personal experience with Holyrood’s health, social care and sport committee as it takes evidence on a bill that is aiming to create 200m buffer zones outside abortion clinics.
In recent weeks, the committee has heard from those generally in favour of the legislation.
On Tuesday, those against the bill were given an opportunity to have their say.
Ms Dulgheriu told the committee: “In 2011, I was single, abandoned, facing unemployment and terrified when I discovered I was pregnant.”
‘Pro-life vigil gave me the hope I was searching for’
Ms Dulgheriu said she booked an appointment for an abortion as she didn’t seem to have any other option as she had “little in the way of financial or emotional support”.
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She said: “I wanted to keep her, but I didn’t know how, so my hope rapidly began to fade.
“The day that I turned up to my abortion appointment, a volunteer outside the clinic gently gave me a leaflet.
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“Somewhere beneath the palpable anxiety and pressure, I felt it provided me with exactly what I was longing for.
“Some would say I already [chose] abortion, but the truth is I didn’t choose it. The pro-life vigil gave me the hope I was searching for.
“Had I not received the support from volunteers, my beautiful daughter would not have been here today.”
Ms Dulgheriu said she weighed up the two options and “chose motherhood”.
She added: “I chose to accept help. It wasn’t easy, but with the support of the group who had given me that leaflet, I could not be [prouder] of the life my daughter and I have charted [together].”
Ms Dulgheriu said “hundreds of women” have benefited from the same kind of support.
She added: “It is worrying that we will consider denying vulnerable women access to this potentially life-changing information, especially when facing one of the most challenging decisions of their lives that could have lasting ramifications on their mental and physical health.”
‘Pro-lifers demonised’
Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, co-director of March for Life UK, said she has been praying near abortion centres and speaking to women and couples for around 20 years.
She told the committee: “We know many, many women who felt empowered to make the choice they wanted to make to continue their pregnancy because of the support we offered them, which might be financial support, accommodation, childcare, friendship, baby goods, private medical care, etc.
“Essentially services not offered by the abortion providers.”
Ms Vaughan-Spruce said campaign leaders would willingly work with authorities to condemn harassment.
She added: “To my experience, any women who have been anxious going for an abortion – apart from concerns about the abortion itself – were anxious about what they thought we might do because of the negative and twisted stories that are written about pro-lifers.
“What people hear or read about us is the chief cause of anxiety.”
Ms Vaughan-Spruce claimed her volunteers have been “screamed at, spat at, sworn at, even physically assaulted”.
She added: “Pro-lifers have been demonised. We’ve even had politicians calling us perverts. This has got to stop.”
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Scottish Greens MSP Gillian Mackay is behind the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Bill.
Ms Mackay said the buffer zones will “stop the intimidating protests”.
She added: “My heart and my solidarity is with the people who are being forced to pass a gauntlet of placards and banners.
“The protesters know about the impact that they are having. They know that people feel judged, intimidated and harassed. Do they not care that they are making so many people feel this way?
“They have seen all of the same testimonies and evidence that I have. Nobody should have to go through that to access healthcare.
“I urge all of the protesters to consider their own roles and the awful impact of their words and their banners.
“They can protest outside our parliament by all means, but to knowingly target people who are often in a vulnerable place is utterly wrong, and I am determined that my bill will put a stop to it.”
Jeremy Hunt will promise further tax cuts if the Tories win the next general election and will accuse the Labour Party of not being honest about how it will fund its spending pledges.
The chancellor will give a speech in London on Friday in which he will accuse his shadow, Rachel Reeves, of resorting to “playground politics” with her criticism of the high levels of taxation on UK households.
Mr Hunt will also reiterate his ambition to eradicate the national insurance tax – which the Tories have already slashed twice in a bid to move the polls – where they currently lag 20 points behind Labour.
Labour has attacked the policy as an unfunded £46bn pledge and likened it to the policies that saw Liz Truss resign from office after just 44 days as prime minister.
The chancellor was previously forced to make clear that his desire to abolish the “unfair” national insurance tax would not happen “any time soon”.
The chancellor described national insurance as a “tax on work” and said he believed it was “unfair that we tax work twice” when other forms of income are only taxed once.
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The overall tax burden is expected to increase over the next five years to around 37% of gross domestic product – close to a post-Second World War high – but Mr Hunt will argue the furlough scheme brought in during the pandemic and the help the government gave households for heating both needed to be paid for.
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Last week: National Insurance to be axed ‘when it’s affordable’
“Labour like to criticise tax rises this parliament thinking people don’t know why they have gone up – the furlough scheme, the energy price guarantee and billions of pounds of cost-of-living support, policies Labour themselves supported,” he will say.
“Which is why it is playground politics to use those tax rises to distract debate from the biggest divide in British politics – which is what happens next.
“Conservatives recognise that whilst those tax rises may have been necessary, they should not be permanent. Labour do not.”
James Murray, Labour’s shadow financial secretary to the Treasury,said: “There is nothing Jeremy Hunt can say or do to hide that fact that working people are worse off after 14 years of economic failure under the Conservatives.”