The principle of free speech matters more than a doubtful ruling on taste

Friday 15 March 2002 01:00 GMT
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"This case is about the censorship of political speech," declared Lord Justice Laws, opening his judgment on the appeal by the Prolife Alliance against the refusal by the television companies to transmit its election broadcast in its original form.

If only more judges were bold enough to proclaim their verdicts with such a ringing declaration of principle. Against the strength of the principle of free speech, the judges rightly found weak the arguments of the BBC for not showing the anti-abortion broadcast complete with its disturbing footage of dismembered foetuses. Against the clarity of the right to freedom of expression, the BBC's talk of its legal duty to protect viewers from "material that offends against good taste and decency" seemed woolly and subjective and, worse than that, patronising.

The Independent strongly supports a woman's right to choose on abortion. We believe the Prolife Alliance is profoundly mistaken in its absolutism. When those unbalanced beliefs are translated into law, common sense tends to temper them with reality, as in Ireland, which voted in this month's referendum to allow abortions to continue if the mother is suicidal. In practice, therefore, the argument is always one of where to draw the line.

However, we also support – to the last – the Prolife Alliance's right to put its argument. There can be no doubt that it was entitled to a broadcast – only in Wales – on the basis of the number of candidates it fielded. Nor should there be any doubt that, as Lord Justice Simon Brown said in his supporting judgment, "the prohibition of abortion is a legitimate political programme".

The broadcasters all pretend to believe in free speech, too, in which case the argument turns on taste and decency. But the test for censorship must be set high. Many people would find the images the Prolife Alliance wanted to use deeply disturbing, as Lord Justice Laws did when he saw them. They may find them difficult to explain to children who might be watching. But they are real pictures of the consequences of real abortions that happen all the time in this country. Britons ought to be able to look at the sad truth of the often difficult decisions that we make as individuals and as a society.

We are confident that, if the broadcast were shown with its original images – instead of the voiceover-only version that was eventually transmitted – the British public would remain unpersuaded of the case for banning abortion. However, our confidence in the ability of the British to maintain a balanced view of a difficult issue is irrelevant to the principle of free speech.

That principle is not at stake, however, in another controversy this week that seemed to touch on similar questions. Creationists may share with some anti-abortionists a faith-based absolutism. But when it comes to teaching in state schools that the world was created in six days, the distinction that needs to be drawn is not one between free speech and censorship, but between fact and opinion. So long as creationism is taught in religious education classes as an explanation that some people believe literally, some figuratively and some not at all, the right of freedom of expression is satisfied.

It would be dangerous, however, if it were taught in science lessons as an alternative theory to that of evolution. That is a negation of the scientific method, because it is a matter not of evidence but belief. Although Emmanuel College, the school raised in Prime Minister's Questions, has gone close to this line, it does not seem to have gone over it.

In both cases – the campaigns against abortion and the teaching of evolution – the best defence of truth is free and fair debate. That creationists feel they need to indoctrinate children is a measure of the weakness of their arguments. Let them, and the Prolifers, make their case out in the open.

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