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ProLife Alliance (PLA) or simply ProLife, was an anti-abortion,
single-issue Single-issue politics involves political campaigning or political support based on one essential policy area or idea. Political expression One weakness of such an approach is that effective political parties are usually coalitions of faction ...
political party that was active in the United Kingdom from 1996 to 2004. Since that time it has continued as an advocacy group. It is opposed to any form of euthanasia and opposes human
cloning Cloning is the process of producing individual organisms with identical or virtually identical DNA, either by natural or artificial means. In nature, some organisms produce clones through asexual reproduction. In the field of biotechnology, c ...
,
abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pre ...
and experiments on human embryos. It supports and guaranteed maternity and paternity leave. Its leader is Dominica Roberts. The Pro-Life Alliance was founded by two anti-abortion activists, Josephine Quintavalle and her son Bruno Quintavalle. They contested the 1997 general election, bringing about litigation against the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
over the latter's refusal to screen the PLA's
party political broadcast A party political broadcast (also known, in pre-election campaigning periods, as a party election broadcast) is a television or radio broadcast made by a political party. In the United Kingdom the Communications Act 2003 prohibits (and previou ...
. The party contested 56 of the 659 constituencies and attracted a total of 19,332 votes. It gained over 1% of the vote in only five constituencies in England and Wales, although did slightly better in Scotland, where it averaged 1.5% of the vote and secured over 2% in three seats. Its vote share declined further in the 1999 Scottish Parliamentary elections, 2001 general election, and
2004 European Parliament election The 2004 European Parliament election was held between 10 and 13 June 2004 in the 25 member states of the European Union, using varying election days according to local custom. The European Parliamental parties could not be voted for, but electe ...
. It disbanded in 2004. Much of its support transferred to the
Christian Peoples Alliance The Christian Peoples Alliance (CPA) is a Christian rightist political party in the United Kingdom. The party was founded in its present form in 1999, having grown out of a cross-party advocacy group called the Movement for Christian Democracy. ...
. .


History

The Pro-Life Alliance was established as a political party in October 1996 by Josephine Quintavalle and her son Bruno Quintavalle. Its membership consisted a high percentage of Roman Catholics. It contested 56 seats in the 1997 general election. In total, it attracted 19,332 votes, averaging of 345 votes per constituency. In England and Wales, the PLA gained over 1% of the vote in only five constituencies: Billericay, Leyton and Wanstead, Solihull, Manchester Withington, and Doncaster Central. In Scotland, it contested nine seats, all of them in the Greater Glasgow area. There, it averaged 1.5% of the vote and gained over 2% in three seats. That it did better in this part of Scotland rather than in England or Wales might reflect the greater proportion of Roman Catholics living in the Greater Glasgow area. The refusal of the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
to show its television
party political broadcast A party political broadcast (also known, in pre-election campaigning periods, as a party election broadcast) is a television or radio broadcast made by a political party. In the United Kingdom the Communications Act 2003 prohibits (and previou ...
led to litigation (''
R (ProLife Alliance) v BBC ''R (ProLife Alliance) v. BBC'' was a House of Lords case on the extent to which matters of good taste and decency are sufficient to justify the censorship of a party political broadcast. The ProLife Alliance had submitted a video that showed the ...
''), in which it was ultimately unsuccessful. The PLA contested the 1999 Scottish Parliamentary elections—the very first since the re-establishment of the Scottish Parliament—but its vote was less than that of the 1997 general election. This was despite the fact that the Scottish Parliament election utilised a form of
proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...
which benefited minor parties, a contrast to the general election's use of
first-past-the-post voting In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast thei ...
. The sociologist Steve Bruce suggested that the decline in the Scottish vote may have been because voters were "too excited" by the restoration of their parliament after 292 years to "be interested in apparently fringe issues" such as abortion. The PLA fielded 37 candidates at the 2001 general election. Its vote was lower than in 1997; it averaged 255 votes per seat, and 30 of its candidates polled less than 1%. 26 of its candidates came last in their respective constituencies. In entering the
2004 European Parliament election The 2004 European Parliament election was held between 10 and 13 June 2004 in the 25 member states of the European Union, using varying election days according to local custom. The European Parliamental parties could not be voted for, but electe ...
, it had difficulty attracting candidates willing to stand, the result of which was that seven of the 22 standing for election in England contested more than one electoral region. The ProLife Alliance gained 20,393 votes in the
2004 European Parliament election The 2004 European Parliament election was held between 10 and 13 June 2004 in the 25 member states of the European Union, using varying election days according to local custom. The European Parliamental parties could not be voted for, but electe ...
, equating to 0.1% of votes cast. A few months later, in December 2004, the PLA disbanded as a political party and did not contest any seats in the 2005 general election. Much of the party's support subsequently went to a minor Christian democratic party, the
Christian Peoples Alliance The Christian Peoples Alliance (CPA) is a Christian rightist political party in the United Kingdom. The party was founded in its present form in 1999, having grown out of a cross-party advocacy group called the Movement for Christian Democracy. ...
(CPA), with many of the CPA's electoral candidates having been former PLA candidates. In 2003, the
Department of Health A health department or health ministry is a part of government which focuses on issues related to the general health of the citizenry. Subnational entities, such as states, counties and cities, often also operate a health department of their ow ...
significantly reduced the statistical information it provided about abortions for suspected foetal abnormalities. The ProLife Alliance challenged this under the
Freedom of Information Act Freedom of Information Act may refer to the following legislations in different jurisdictions which mandate the national government to disclose certain data to the general public upon request: * Freedom of Information Act 1982, the Australian act * ...
, and this challenge was supported by the Information Commissioner. An appeal by the Department of Health to the Information Tribunal failed. The Tribunal rejected the Department's view that personal information would be unreasonably endangered, and commented on the Department's duty to ensure compliance with the Abortion Act and its failure to scrutinise reporting forms "either clinically or substantively". The Department first planned to appeal to the High Court,"Government seeks secrecy on cleft palate abortions"
''Daily Telegraph'', 13 November 2009 but subsequently conceded and made the requested information available in July 2011. The sociologist Steve Bruce was of the view that the Pro-Life Alliance's inability to achieve political success reflected the "relative unpopularity of abortion as an election issue" in the United Kingdom. In his view, its "failure" at the ballot box demonstrated "a failure to win the argument", with the majority of the British population believing that abortion should remain legal. A 2005 poll found that over 70% of Britons believed that abortion should be always or mostly legal while less than a quarter thought that it should be always or mostly illegal.


Election results


House of Commons


See also

*
ProLife Alliance election results ProLife Alliance was formed in the UK in October 1996, originally as a political party. It put up 56 candidates at the 1997 general election and also contested the 2001 general election and 2004 European elections. __TOC__ Election results Hou ...
*
R (ProLife Alliance) v BBC ''R (ProLife Alliance) v. BBC'' was a House of Lords case on the extent to which matters of good taste and decency are sufficient to justify the censorship of a party political broadcast. The ProLife Alliance had submitted a video that showed the ...


References


Footnotes


Sources

*


External links

* {{Abortion in the United Kingdom 1996 establishments in the United Kingdom Anti-abortion organisations in the United Kingdom Defunct political parties in the United Kingdom Political parties established in 1996 Single-issue political parties in United Kingdom