The religious studies revision guide, on BBC Bitesize, the broadcaster’s education resource, listed “strong arguments” against abortion, used the term “pro-life” instead of “anti-abortion” and featured a page dedicated to a vocal campaign group who wants to ban abortion in Britain. The Society for the Protection of the Unborn (SPUC) has a history of promoting misinformation in schools and was exposed in 2019 for launching a toy story campaign aimed at children with false claims that fetuses can feel pain 10 weeks after birth. arrest. The broadcaster said it is now reviewing the material in its religious studies guide, which covers Catholic views on life and death and is aimed at 15- and 16-year-old GCSE students. SPUC has a history of promoting extreme views on abortion to children in ways that are simply wrong. Robert Cann, Humanists UK SPUC has also repeatedly promoted a procedure known as “reversal” abortions on its website, which medical organizations have condemned as unproven and potentially dangerous. And last week he celebrated the decision in the US to overturn Roe v Wade – the high court decision that protected women’s right to abortion across the country – as “a monumental day for justice [and the] unborn”. Despite its track record, the group was described uncritically in BBC Bitesize as a “pro-life” charity that “defends the rights of the unborn”, promotes “the sanctity of human life” and “supports individuals and families during pregnancy ». No pro-choice organizations were mentioned. Critics said the material, part of a BBC Bitesize resource based on the WJEC exam board syllabus, failed to distinguish clearly between fact and opinion and risked exposing children to “harmful” misinformation. Lisa Hallgarten, head of policy at Brook, the national sexual health charity, described the training material as “shocking” and “problematic in many ways”. . “Showing an organization that is very unreliable when it comes to factual information is problematic because you give it credibility,” he said. “This is not abstract for young people. this is real life. We really need to avoid sending people to organizations that won’t help them.” In addition to SPUC, BBC resource Bitesize listed “strong arguments” against abortion, including that it “denies choice to the unborn child” and makes human life seem “cheap and disposable”. In another section, a chart titled Alternatives to Abortion suggested sexual abstinence and natural family planning as solutions to avoid unwanted pregnancies and “financial support” as alternatives to termination, but did not mention contraception. The British Pregnancy Advisory Service, an abortion provider, raised concerns about information given to teenagers about alternatives to abortion and said it was “absurd” that the chart suggested abstinence and natural family planning but did not mention contraception . The BBC Bitesize chart entitled ‘Alternatives to Abortion’. Photo: BBC Bitesize Humanists UK, a charity which promotes secularism, said it was vital for religious studies teaching to highlight different views and encourage structured debate. But Robert Cann, its director of education campaigns, said the SPUC’s inclusion was inappropriate given its “history of promoting extreme views on abortion to children in ways that are just plain wrong.” “We should be very wary when his name and resources are hosted uncritically in a self-guided GCSE RE revision course for children,” he said. He also criticized the resource for not reflecting the views of most Catholics. Polls have shown that most people support abortion and the use of contraception. “This source implies that Christians, and especially Catholics, will always be opposed to abortion. But that is the opposite of the truth – we know that, as far back as 2013, less than 7% of the total population said they were against abortion, including only 14% of Catholics – figures that have only declined since then,” he said . “The whole issue needs a review to be presented in a more critical, objective and pluralistic way.” On Friday, the BBC said it was reviewing the resource and that it had been “temporarily” removed in the meantime. A spokeswoman added that the resource was based on the WJEC exam board syllabus, which is why it included a reference to SPUC. However, while aimed at a specific group, the resource is publicly available on the broadcaster’s website and links to it appear high in Google results for searches relating to SPUC, abortion and the BBC. The BBC website says Bitesize guides are “written by teachers and subject experts and mapped to follow UK curricula”. WJEC, the exam board whose material is intended to accompany the BBC guide, has been removed from the study material. “The resources developed by BBC Bitesize were created without any involvement from our religious studies team and are therefore not endorsed by WJEC,” a spokesperson said. While the WJEC syllabus explored opposing views on abortion, he said, it did not endorse any specific one. The Society for the Protection of the Unborn said it could not comment on the BBC’s source, but that its own content was based on “scientific data surrounding life before birth”. One representative accused pro-choice groups of “sanitizing abortion.”
