In the run up to the Holyrood election, we’re analysing what’s in each of the main party manifestos for humanists. We’re also asking candidates to adopt policies that make Scotland a more rational, socially just and compassionate country. Last in our series is the SNP. Their manifesto includes pledges on conversion therapy, abortion law reform, and palliative care provision.
You can also read our analysis of the Conservative, Labour, Green, and Liberal Democrat manifestos.
Abortion Rights
The manifesto says ‘we do not support the restriction of existing abortion legislation as abortion is a legal right, and we will protect that right. We will take forward a consultation on the recommendations of the Abortion Law review chaired by Prof Anna Glasier, including on decriminalisation within the specified term limits’.
Humanist Society Scotland welcomes the broad pledge to safeguard abortion rights and continue the work on abortion law reform. However, we would like to have seen the SNP go further and fully commit to decriminalisation and modernising Scotland’s outdated abortion law.
Right now, women and pregnant people in Scotland have no legal right to end a pregnancy. The law requires two doctors to sign off on an abortion request, with patients compelled to justify a deeply personal decision. Criminalising abortion also means that prosecutions and police investigations still take place today.
Humanist Society Scotland believes the status quo is failing vulnerable women, perpetuates stigma, and undermines the status of abortion as routine healthcare. This is why we’ve joined over 50 organisations and 900 individuals calling for the full decriminalisation of abortion and an abortion law fit for the 21st century.
LGBT+ Rights
Humanist Society Scotland is pleased to see a clear commitment to outlaw conversion practices against LGBTQ+ people. The SNP manifesto says ‘should the UK government fail to bring forward legislation to ban conversion practices, we are committed to legislating against the harms of conversion practices and will introduce legislation within the first year of the new parliament to permanently end these practices’. The SNP also promise mental health support for survivors, and public awareness and education programmes.
We are clear that Scotland needs a comprehensive, trans-inclusive ban on conversion practices. That means no loopholes that exempt faith groups or those who reject trans identities.
Conversion practices are harmful, coercive behaviours that attempt to change or suppress a person’s sexuality or gender identity. Such acts are based on the false and dangerous notion that being LGBT+ is sinful, shameful or wrong and needs to be “cured”. Conversion practices are not only widely discredited as illegitimate and ineffective, but also cause significant and lasting harm to victims.
The SNP also say they will ‘uphold and protect the human rights of trans people as far as possible within our powers, and do all we can to ensure that trans people’s identities are recognised and respected’.
If re-elected, we hope the SNP keeps its promise to the trans community and makes every effort to end the UK government block on gender recognition legislation. As humanists, we support a person’s right to live as and be legally recognised as the gender that they identify with. This is why we support the simplified gender recognition process agreed by MSPs in 2022.
End of life choice
The manifesto says ‘anyone who needs palliative care should have access to the best quality support. We will work with all interested parties to make sure that appropriate palliative care is available for all those who need it, where and when they need it’.
As an organisation that campaigns for greater end-of-life choice, including the right of terminally ill adults to choose an assisted death, we recognise the importance of improved access to hospice and palliative care. We therefore welcome the manifesto commitment to ‘co-develop a new funding model for hospices to ensure annual public funding keeps pace with need’. The SNP also pledges to ‘explore ways to expand the palliative care workforce, and provide more consistent palliative care for those who need it’.
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