MSPs are set to be handed advice from Scotland’s top medic after an SNP politician was accused of launching a “dangerous disinformation campaign” over abortion services.
SNP Public Health Minister Maree Todd told MSPs that she does “profoundly disagree” with her party colleague, John Mason, after he compared some women undergoing abortions as having “effectively found themselves on a conveyor belt”.
Ms Todd has insisted that MSPs must “take our responsibility very seriously to ensure that the information that we give is accurate”.
The move comes after Mr Mason, in a radio interview, suggested that women have not been warned about the risks, despite no evidence suggesting that is the case.
He said: “Some women have gone through abortions and have very bad experiences.
“I’ve heard people speak and I’ve had one or two emails since this was being discussed about the bad experiences that some people have had.”
Mr Mason added: “I’m not saying it’s every case but in some cases, women have gone to these clinics and have effectively found themselves on a conveyor belt.
“There’s very little information about the pros and the cons of having an abortion.
“I’ve heard women speak who for the rest of their lives have felt a scar on them and damaged emotionally, having gone through an abortion and they were not warned about that.”
Labour MSP Monica Lennon has called on the SNP Government to ensure MSPs are giving out accurate information – accusing Mr Mason of a “dangerous disinformation campaign”.
She added: “His comments are not just his views, it's disinformation.
“He is talking down healthcare workers, he's claiming that women don't have informed consent. We've already heard from the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) there's no evidence to back this up.
“What will the Scottish Government do to tackle disinformation, to make sure that all MSPs have the facts in front of them? It's not about our views, it's about the facts.
“What will the SNP do to ensure that Mr Mason doesn't continue with this dangerous disinformation?”
Ms Todd insisted that she does “profoundly disagree with Mr Mason's views”.
She said: “I am absolutely confident that services which are provided by in Scotland around the informed consent relating to abortions are not only good and meet the legal standards, but I would say in my experience, those people working in sexual health go above and beyond and deliver an exemplary gold standard in what we would expect around informed consent.
“They get right alongside their patients and without judgement, help the patient to understand what they need to know in order to make a good decision. And they do that day in, day out, and we are grateful for it.”
The Public Health Minister said she “cant speak for” the SNP.
She added: “What I can say is that our manifesto committed us to improving access to abortion and committed us to retaining the current abortion legislation that we have.
“In terms of misinformation, I agree it is vitally important that each of us in positions of power in this place, take our responsibility very seriously to ensure that the information that we give is accurate.
“I'm more than happy to liaise with the CMO to ensure that every member has the opportunity to understand the issues at hand.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel