A FURIOUS row broke out today after an anti-abortion group urged Roman Catholic schools across East Lancashire to boycott raising cash for the Comic Relief campaign.

The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) has written to Catholic schools to ask them not to support the event.

The Preston-based northern office of the SPUC has begun the campaign because it believes that Comic Relief cash is spent on the "promotion of abortion and contraception advice."

But Comic Relief bosses hit back today by accusing the organisation of putting out "misleading and inaccurate information."

A spokesman for the SPUC said: "Among the Comic Relief projects both here and in Africa are those which are driven by the population control mentality.

"These promote abortion and have an anti-family agenda. They provide abortion and contraceptive advice to teenagers, some of whom are under age without their parents' consent.

"We are not objecting to people wearing red noses, but it is what the money is being spent on.

"We are writing to schools in the Lancashire area and this is purely a local initiative by our northern office."

A Comic Relief spokeswoman said: "Every time we have Red Nose days, pro-life campaigners send out misleading and inaccurate information about Comic Relief's support for projects in Africa with a family planning component.

"We do not pay for abortions. The pro-life campaigners know this, but still persist in trying to use us to gain publicity.

"It is very depressing for us that they choose this moment in the campaign for us every two years to do this."

She said since 1985 Comic Relief had given less than one per cent of more than £90million to family planning charities.

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