Gibraltar For Yes "Dismayed" By GPLM's Claims
Gibraltar for Yes has said it is "beyond dismayed" at the Gibraltar Pro Life Movement’s (GPLM) latest statement highlighting the "manner in which we are progressing with the campaign, in particular, with reference to what appears to be information we have put in the public domain".
A statement from Gibraltar for Yes follows below:
Whilst it is true that we did publish material (on our Facebook Page) which alluded to the 12 week cut off period, on the basis that the explanatory notes of the legislation specifically says, and we quote, “The period of weeks in which abortions can be carried out are to be limited to twelve”, when it was pointed out to us that it could be “misconstrued as misleading” we, within the hour, did what we thought was the right thing to do and took the post down. To now paint this as purposely designed, is disingenuous to an extreme and only serves to show the depths to which the GPLM are descending to. Had this been the case (and given the explicit provision in the explanatory notes) we would have left the post up and gone on to distribute leaflets that had already been printed. These were subsequently destroyed. Mr Brenig goes on to take issue with the flyer that was subsequently printed and which we distributed. The information contained was fact checked by a consultant gynaecologist, so we are therefore confident that it can in no way be considered misleading.
We also object to the obvious attempt to cast aspersions on the integrity of GfY with scant detail on a supposed “article from a pro-choice advocate” which we are none the wiser as to what specifically this is in reference to. This comes after a weekend of particularly nasty personal attacks on a GfY committee member on social media, by not one, but two individuals closely connected to the Gibraltar Pro Life Movement and we would ask whether this latest statement is more about damage limitation than anything else. We, as an organization have made every attempt to keep this campaign clean and above board, something which we are justifiably very proud of.
We would at this point, also like to add that we logged a complaint at the beginning of last week, initially with Parliament, but then on to the Royal Gibraltar Police, as per their advice, regarding what we believe to be misleading information being distributed in a leaflet by the GPLM. We, at the time thought it was of no benefit to make this public, in the interest of maintaining the campaign civil, even though we believed that there were obvious issues with misleading information being distributed to households at that very time. We also had no desire to see the situation proceed on to possible criminal prosecution which would only serve to divide the community even further. We can now in light of this latest development confirm that the matter is still in the hands of the Royal Gibraltar Police.
Additionally to this, we would also like to confirm that we have received advice on the opinion piece by Dr Calum Miller recently published in the Gibraltar Chronicle, which indicates that there is misleading information of substantial proportions contained within the piece and that there are good grounds for a complaint to the General Medical Council in the UK. Again, in the interest of full clarification of what this entails, before proceeding with the complaint, we decided not to put this information in the public domain.
It is particularly galling of GPLM to be citing misleading information when their campaign is using the slogan “save babies” when they are acutely aware that no change to the law will only mean that women and couples, who are denied care in their hometown will continue to cross the border or catch a flight. It is safe to say that in the event of a No vote, the steady stream of abortions in another country will continue to happen.
