Life (UK organisation)

Life is a UK-based anti-abortion charity. It was founded in 1970 by Professor Jack Scarisbrick and his wife Nuala in response to the Abortion Act 1967, which greatly extended access to legal abortion in the United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland, where it was illegal until 2020).

Life National Headquarters is situated in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire. Life has in the region of 12,000 members in the UK. Its patrons include well-known pro-life parliamentarians, such as David Alton, Baron Alton of Liverpool.

Activities

Life was founded to provide an alternative to those faced with a crisis pregnancy and the charity's work is informed by the principle of respect for the lives of all human beings, both born and unborn. Life was the first pro-life organisation in the UK to pioneer this two-pronged approach of opposing abortion yet also providing viable long-term alternatives.

More recently, Life's daughter charity the Zoe's Place Trust has opened three hospices for terminally ill children, one in Liverpool,[1] one in Coventry and another in Middlesbrough.[2]

Other areas in which the charity has expanded its work include its UK-wide sex and relationships education programme, and the provision of fertility treatment that accords with the charity's views on the status of the human embryo, while the 1990s saw the creation of a professionalised and centralised LIFE Housing department able to co-ordinate closely with local authorities and social services.

Life also has links to pro-life groups in other countries, notably Malta, Sri Lanka and the Republic of Ireland. Although access to abortion is heavily restricted in Northern Ireland – much more so than in the rest of the UK – there are a number of active local Life groups in the region.

Non-religious status

Although it is not officially Catholic, Life and the SPUC (a less conservative anti-abortion group) mainly draw upon Catholic and evangelical support.[3]

Inclusion in the Sexual Health Forum

In May 2011 the Conservative government caused controversy when it appointed Life to its advisory group the Sexual Health Forum, replacing the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS). Ann Furedi, the chief executive of BPAS, said: We find it puzzling that the Department of Health would want a group that is opposed to abortion and provides no sexual health services on its sexual health forum.[4] Life did subsequently note that they work in schools to promote healthy sexual attitudes and behaviour.[5]

Ethical views

Life has an absolutist view on abortion – believing that it is always wrong to intentionally perform an abortion. Their website states that "The most important and influential part of Life's ethos is our opposition to all abortion on principle."[6] However, following the principle of double effect, Life does accept that in the small number of cases where the continuation of a pregnancy poses a direct medical threat to the life of the mother, it may be permissible for doctors to intervene in a way that ends the life of the unborn child, as long as the death of the child is a foreseen, rather than intended, outcome of the operation.[7]

Life opposes medical research which involves the destruction of human embryos (see stem cell controversy).[8] The charity is also opposed to all forms of legal assisted suicide and euthanasia.[9]

In accordance with its charitable status, Life does not undertake political campaigning in its own right. Nevertheless, the organisation has been associated with the Alive and Kicking Campaign, an umbrella group of pro-life organisations pressing for wide-ranging abortion law reform, and the Care Not Killing Alliance, a coalition of anti-euthanasia campaigners from many different backgrounds, including pro-life organisations, parliamentarians, medical professionals, and religious groups.

Life's services

Pregnancy Matters™

Life's nationwide Pregnancy Matter's services aim to provide a sympathetic "safe space" where women can access free pregnancy testing, confidential counselling / skilled listening, supported accommodation and practical help.[10] Life is not able to provide referrals to an abortion provider.

For obvious reasons, the majority of those who visit Care Centres are women, but Life counsellors do sometimes find themselves talking to men. They too can be adversely affected by abortion, for example if their partner has an abortion without their knowledge or against their will.

Apart from these face-to-face services, Life also runs an online service including a National Helpline, web message and Text-to-Talk,[11] staffed by experienced counsellors and skilled listeners. A more recent innovation is "Text-to-Talk". This service allows clients to access Life counselling services with more complete anonymity.

Life Care Centres have been criticised for providing inaccurate information about abortion, and for using frightening and emotive language.[12] Life reviewed many of its procedures and protocols in the wake of these criticisms.[13]

Pregnancy Matters™ - supported housing

Life houses were originally opened in the 1970s as a response to requests from women facing homelessness if they continued with their pregnancies. LIFE supporters opened houses in various locations across the UK in order to provide a home for women who found themselves in this vulnerable position. Nowadays, LIFE Housing provides a support service to pregnant women, mothers of small children and families who are in need of support, so as to enable them to access independent living and successfully maintain their tenancies. They may not necessarily be living in a LIFE house.

LIFE Housing receives a limited amount of government funding, and as such undergoes regular assessments and audits, and is regularly reviewed by the Supporting People Authorities. Life Housing operates in 30 local authority areas, and is funded by 23 Supporting People Administering Authorities.

Life Matters®

Life employs a number of Life Matters® Officers, who spend some of their time visiting schools and universities. Life Matters® Officers give talks, presentations and conferences on a range of subjects of concern and interest to the charity: not just abortion, but also euthanasia, embryo experimentation, assisted reproduction, and sex and relationships education. The charity's speakers currently come into contact with around 30,000 students annually.

The Zoe's Place Trust
Zoe's Place logo

The Zoe's Place Trust (Registered National Charity No 1092545) is a daughter charity to LIFE, and runs three specialist hospices for terminally ill children aged 0–5. One of these is in Liverpool,[14] close to Alder Hey Children's Hospital, the second is in Normanby, Middlesbrough[15] and the third in Coventry.[16] LIFE's insistence on the unique and equal value of each individual human leads the organisation to view abortion for disability as a particularly serious and unfair act of discrimination. Abortion for disability represents about 1% of all abortions in the UK, with c.2000 abortions of disabled unborn children each year. The Zoe's Place baby hospices are intended to function as a highly visible and practical alternative to abortion for disability.

Controversy

Life was, along with other anti-abortion groups, mentioned in the 2014 Brook report into Crisis Pregnancy Centres.[17] This report attempted to highlight the "misinformation, bias, and poor quality practice in independent pregnancy counselling centres in the UK."

References
  1. Williams, Liza (17 June 2009). "Liverpool Women's Hospital midwives walk for Zoe's Place". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 2009-08-20.
  2. "Zoe's Place fundraisers are in stitches". Herald & Post. 17 December 2009. Retrieved 2009-12-17.
  3. Banchoff, Thomas (15 May 2011). Embryo Politics: Ethics and Policy in Atlantic Democracies. Cornell University Press. p. 87. ISBN 978-0-8014-6107-1.
  4. Quinn, Ben (24 May 2011). "Anti-abortion group drafted in as sexual health adviser to government". The Guardian.
  5. "LIFE statement on being invited to join the Sexual Health Forum". Archived from the original on 2012-09-04. Retrieved 2012-10-02.
  6. "Info for students". Life. Archived from the original on 2011-05-28.
  7. "Abortion: the hard cases". Life. Retrieved 1 December 2020. It is true that, occasionally, a situation arises where a particular medical treatment is required to save the mother's life, which will probably have the side-effect of fatally harming the unborn child. An example of this is an ectopic pregnancy, where the embryo implants in the fallopian tube instead of in the womb. As it grows, it will eventually rupture the fallopian tube, resulting in the death of the mother and also of the child. In these cases, it is generally accepted that one may ethically carry out a treatment to save the life of the mother, even if the child might die. This is the ethical principle of double effect, which allows for certain actions with foreseen but unintended bad consequences to be carried out as long as a particular good outcome is also achieved. These kind of interventions should not be thought of as abortions because the intention is not to end the unborn child's life, but to treat the woman.
  8. "Let's talk stem cells". Life. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  9. "Euthanasia". Life. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  10. "GPs: Frequently Asked Questions". Archived from the original on 2013-02-12. Retrieved 2012-09-10.
  11. https://pregnanymatters.org.uk. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  12. Quinn, Ben (2 August 2011). "Abortion: pregnancy counselling centres found wanting". The Guardian.
  13. "Response to Guardian story on Crisis Pregnancy Care Services". Archived from the original on 2013-10-23. Retrieved 2012-10-02.
  14. "Zoe's Place Liverpool".
  15. "Zoe's Place Middlesbrough".
  16. "Zoe's Place Coventry".
  17. https://www.brook.org.uk/attachments/crisis_preg_centres_rept_10.2.14-2hiFINAL.pdf
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