Anti-abortion activism is rising in UK universities
The sharp increase in pro-life societies across the country is linked to the same organisation: Alliance for Pro-Life Students
In the last two years, the number of official anti-abortion student societies directly funded by universities has almost doubled in size, rising from eight to fourteen. The increase in pro-life groups in academic spaces has been steady, becoming almost impossible to ignore during this year’s Freshers’ Week, when pro-life groups made their way to several Welcome Fairs, including at Oxford and Cambridge.
A month ago, students at the University of Exeter launched a petition opposing their university’s single-issue pro-life society on the grounds that basing a society around one belief guards it from cursory scrutiny. A sit-in was also organised on October 15, after Exeter Guild responded to the controversy, stating that the “disaffiliation of a society based on its views would be unlawful”. Speakers from the student-staged protest expressed concern over the safety of women, which they say is imperilled by the existence of a society that questions their bodily autonomy. The University of Exeter’s declaration on the issue cites “free speech” as the main reason that the society cannot be struck down. Oxford’s Student Union had a similar response after a pro-life society stall was damaged during the Welcome Fair at the beginning of this academic year. The University’s guidelines with regard to Students’ Unions, however, make it very clear that using funds and facilities to campaign on political issues is against the rules unless it directly affects members of the union as students.
A petition to stop the Student Union from funding a pro-life society has been circulating at the University of Bristol, too. The IFemSoc and Bristol’s Women’s Network wrote an open letter to their SU explaining how they believe the existence of a pro-life society breaches the Union’s Code of Conduct “as it promotes the harassment of people considering or planning to have abortions”.
On October 27, a pro-life society staged a protest at Durham University’s Freshers’ Fair, which involved an all-male group holding banners with purposefully incorrect claims about the abortion process, an act that violates any university’s anti-harassment policy. Durham’s pro-life society has direct ties with an organisation called The Alliance of Pro-Life Students (APS), whose sole purpose is to support and expand a network of pro-life societies throughout the UK. Every pro-life society is listed on its website, including Durham’s. It is unclear whether this organisation is directly affiliated with all pro-life societies, however; the majority of these societies do not reference the APS on social media, though Durham’s Pro-Life Society has shared one of their posts on Facebook.
According to the Education Act of 1994, section 20, 1. (a), the purpose of a students’ union is “promoting the general interests of its members as students”. While the majority of students’ societies are defined by a clear interest of a group of students - e.g. degree topic, nationality, or sports - Students for Life remain one of few groups to focus on a single, deeply politicised, issue.
University College London is not currently featured on APS’ list, though there are plenty of internet records that hint at a previous, now-defunct, pro-life society at the university. This Pi Media article from 2015 links to a “Life Ethics” Society, but its Facebook page seems to be deleted and its Twitter page has not been updated since 2019. It is worth noting that UCLU has officially had a pro-choice stance since a referendum in 2012. According to its official site, this presupposes, amongst other things, that whenever a society invites a pro-life speaker, a pro-choice one should also be invited.
The extent to which APS is involved in setting up pro-life societies across campuses is unknown. The Code of Conduct of a majority of UK Student Unions specifies that, while affiliations with external organisations are permitted, those organisations and their aims should reflect the interests of their members “as students” - for example, student loans or rent prices in accommodation.