Anti-abortion group legal threat

Jim Dowson says the group will push ahead with its campaign

The militant anti-abortion group Precious Life is being threatened with legal action if they hand out graphically descriptive leaflets to school pupils.

So far activists have been targeting secondary schools in central Scotland, but education chiefs in Edinburgh say they will immediately report any Precious Life activists found at a school gate to the police.

The controversial anti-abortion group usually targets abortion clinics and contraceptive advice centres.

On Monday their members were at school gates in Glasgow and Lanarkshire handing out an explicitly-worded anti-abortion leaflet to teenagers going into their classes.

The group has 50,000 leaflets to distribute

They insist they will continue with plans to distribute 50,000 leaflets, but education chiefs have said they will take action to stop the group.

Jim Dowson of Precious Life Scotland said: "Would you prefer that kids weren't aware of the facts?

"They embark on these decisions that could affect the rest of their lives. You cannot bury your head in the sand.

"Telling people that abortion is a quick-fix solution and there is no problem connected to it does our kids a great dis-service."

Education directors in Edinburgh said that the police will be asked to intervene if the group attempts to hand out any of these leaflets at any city school.

'Dangerous' practice

Roy Jobson of Edinburgh City Council said: "Targeting young people in that way is unacceptable and, if necessary, we will put the matter in the hands of Lothian and Borders Police.

"We have no doubts about that. We have to protect young people."

Ronnie Smith of Scotland's biggest teaching union the EIS said: "It is very dangerous for any group, no matter which interest they represent, to be promoting, to be handing out leaflets of the kind you describe.

"Its very bad. Its uneducational, its unsound and we're very critical of this group for doing this."

The Scottish Executive said it would move to prevent any harassment or scaremongering by what it called a "small group of extremists".