Save Babies Vote No Campaign File Complaint With Referendum Administrator
The Save Babies Vote No campaign has filed a complaint with the Referendum Administrator over the Chief Minister's video statement on Saturday night.
A statement from the Save Babies Vote No campaign follows below:
The Save Babies Vote No campaign have said that the video message issued by Chief Minister Fabian Picardo on Saturday night which encouraged the people of Gibraltar to vote for abortion on Thursday contains inaccurate information.
The Chief Minister's statement was issued as part of a joint video message from three politicians. During the video, Mr. Picardo said: 'It is absolutely not true for you to be told that the new abortion law that we are proposing would permit people to have an abortion up to nine months. That is a lie. It's the current law that permits abortion up to nine months. The new law restricts abortion to 12 weeks"
Noting that Mr Picardo's video statement differed from what the news release issued from Parliament recorded him as saying, spokesperson James Brenig said:
"Since the video was posted, the Save Babies Vote No campaign has taken legal advice and we believe that what the Chief Minister stated in the video is inaccurate and misleading."
The specifics of the charges being made by the Save Babies Vote NO Campaign against Mr. Picardo are laid out in more detail in a complaint filed earlier today with Referendum Administrator, Paul Martinez (copy complaint below).
Mr Brenig said that while there was disappointment from many supporters that political leaders had come together to back one side of the referendum, the issue that the information broadcast was inaccurate is much more fundamental.
"With only days until the referendum, when voters are starting to take more notice of what is being said, putting out inaccurate information is simply inexcusable.
"We believe this incident does a great disservice to the democratic process and a great disservice to the voters of our community and we are calling on the Referendum Administrator to take immediate action to correct the situation and that he ask the chief minister to immediately retract his statement.
"In the meantime, we encourage voters to get all the facts about the proposed law on our website, www.chooselife.gi and to come out in great numbers to save babies and vote NO on Thursday."
