A walk described as a ’celebration of life’ took place in Douglas on Sunday.

It was organised by the anti-abortion group Life (IoM), which says it is a secular organisation.

Malcolm Newton, the secretary of the organisation, said ’The march was not anti-abortion. It was a celebration of life.’

Around 100 people took part in the event on Douglas Promenade.

’The object of the walk was for people to get together to celebrate all aspects of life from conception to natural death,’ said Mr Newton.

’We were very pleased with the turnout and the opportunity to celebrate the uniqueness and special nature of every human being from unborn babies developing in the womb to folk approaching the end of their natural lives.’

A vehicle called the Life(UK) TukTuk, which took part in the recent London Road Show of Life (UK), was brought to the island as part of the event.

The Life organisation says it is ’committed to supporting women faced with a crisis pregnancy through counselling and practical support’.

Life (IoM) says it is separate from HEAR, Humanity and Equality in Abortion Reform, which has been campaigning against proposals to make abortion available to more women in the Isle of Man.

Under the Isle of Man’s 1995 Termination of Pregnancy Act, abortions are only permitted in a limited number of instances.

These include when a pregnancy has resulted from rape, or because of a woman’s mental health needs.

Dr Alex Allinson, MHK for Ramsey, is leading a campaign to make abortion more widely available for women in the island.

His supporters say that many Manx women travel to the UK for an operation and have less support as a result.

They also say some are resorting to pills that induce abortions at home.

In a statement released earlier this year, Life (IoM) said: ’We have a lot of work to do at Life IOM in fighting against the powerful abortion industry, which takes one human life every three minutes in England and Wales.

’The HEAR campaign and a very good group of medics opposed to abortion will be looking closely at the proposed legislation for the Isle of Man when it appears and making the voice of the unborn heard on the island.’

A group of Scouts was on the promenade at the same time as the march.

But their presence was purely coincidental, Scout leaders said. Some media in the island wrongly suggested that they took part in the walk.