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."
BPAS press release https://www.bpas.org/about-bpas/press-office/press-releases/anti-abortion-msp-appointed-as-convener-of-health-and-social-care-committee-in-the-scottish-parliament/
Have also found this article, there may be others, about this Reform MSP https://tfn.scot/news/fears-anti-abortion-msp-will-skew-agenda