|TOP|Women from across Scotland who regretted their abortions will gather in Glasgow on Saturday to highlight the reality of abortion on the 38th anniversary of the Scottish Abortion Act.

A new campaign, Silent No More, will be launched by the women at the offices of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children Scotland to highlight the devastating impact that having an abortion can have on the lives of women.

The event follows on from the launch of the England campaign outside the Houses of Parliament in London last weekend.

The women will speak on their own personal experiences with the aim of comforting and reaching out to other women who have gone through abortion and felt subsequent pain and trauma. The campaign also hopes to raise awareness of the support that is available for these women in Scotland.

|QUOTE|Co-founder of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign in America, Georgette Forney, will speak publicly on the impact that having an abortion at the age of 16 had on her life as well as her subsequent search for healing and peace.

"It is our hope that, regardless of how you feel about abortion, you will listen to what we have to say and consider whether women deserve better than abortion,” she said.

“I have travelled from America to stand alongside women from all over the UK because we want other women who can relate to our pain to hear about the hope and help we have found."|AD|

Mrs Forney is in Scotland at the invitation of SPUC Scotland and will speak at numerous locations throughout the country this week including Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow University.

She will also speak on abortion at the SPUC Scotland Spring Conference to be held on Saturday at Glasgow Caledonian University before going on to Glasgow’s Royal Exchange Square with several other women to give their public testimonies on the traumatic and lifelong impact of having an abortion.

Linda Porter of British Victims of Abortion, a post abortion counselling organisation, said: "The legacy of almost 40 years of abortion is that around five million women have made this decision and very many are
left struggling in silence with their feelings of regret and loss.

“Comprehensive research needs to be supported to identify the full implication to a woman when she chooses abortion. Abortion is a clear indication that we have failed women. Women deserve better than abortion."