Ban for Life?
A controversial motion concerning anti-abortion group Life will be put to OUSU Council this Friday. The motion will be proposed by Sarah Taylor of St Hilda's, President of the Pro-Life Society, and calls for a two-year-old ban on adverts placed by the Life organisation to be overturned.
The current ban was implemented in October 2000, after OUSU Ethics Committee conducted an investigation into Life's pregnancy counselling services, to determine whether or not they were directive. OUSU prohibits any organisation that gives 'directive advice' from advertising in its publications.
Antonia Bance, OUSU VP (Women) and responsible for the current Ethics Committee, was especially critical of Life's claim to offer a non-biased advisory service, rejecting their claims outright. She described a conversation she had with the counselling service, acting as a vulnerable, pregnant teenager called 'Sarah'. "The untrained adviser told me that an abortion would leave me feeling like a slag, mentally traumatised and would distress my parents. Emotive language, personal bias and factual inaccuracy was used to give advice that was clearly directive."
Bance's findings concur with those of Jane Blumer, VP (Women) in Michaelmas 2000. Blumer also tested advisors and found the service to be at odds with OUSU's policy of neutral advice regarding unplanned pregnancy.
Sarah Taylor has denied Bance's accusations that Life would undermine the hard work and support of the Student Advice Service. She argued that the Ethics Committee report was 'inconclusive' and pointed out that no unanimous decision had been reached. She said that she could see "no evidence of Life counsellors being deliberately directive in any way towards their clients."
Bance dismissed the committee's inability to reach a firm conclusion as 'expected', stating that its job is to "discuss the issues and find out information rather than dictating policy... it's not their job to make recommendations."
The Pro-Life Society, which backs the motion, has admitted that advisers at the 'Pregnancy Care Service' are all members of the Life anti-abortion movement, and confirms that advisers do not have to promise to avoid giving directive information. However, a senior counsellor at an Oxford centre maintained that "any counsellor found to be giving directive advice would be dismissed," while leaflets advertising the service suggest that counsellors are only there to "help women to express their feelings and think calmly about their situation."
An OUSU insider said that it was "very likely indeed" that OUSU Council would again judge Life to offer directive advisory services and vote to uphold the ban.
30th May 2002