A Scottish Labour MSP has withdrawn her invitation to speak at the Holyrood parliament from an academic who has linked abortion to mental health issues after fellow MSPs raised concerns about the event.

Elaine Smith, Scottish Labour’s spokesperson on poverty and inequality, invited colleagues to a meeting titled Abortion in Scotland: a solution or a problem? at which US professor Priscilla Coleman had been asked to speak. Coleman was the author of study that looked at the link between abortion and anxiety, mood and substance abuse disorders, which has been heavily criticised.

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A number of senior Labour women described a “high level of disquiet” among colleagues over the event, planned for 14 March. It is understood that at least one MSP complained to the party leadership about the meeting.

Smith had reserved a Holyrood meeting room for the event, which included Clare Bremner, a counsellor with the Glasgow-based Abortion Recovery Care and Helpline (Arch). But on Friday morning, Smith’s office told Arch, which is based at the Glasgow offices of the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child (Spuc) Scotland, that there was a diary clash and that Smith was no longer able to host the meeting.

In her emailed invitation, Smith describes Coleman as “an academic psychologist [who] has published extensively on the psychological effects of abortion”. She does not refer to the fact that other researchers have consistently cast doubt on Coleman’s findings. The American Psychological Association does not consider that the evidence supports a correlation between abortion and mental health problems.

Jillian Merchant of Abortion Rights Committee Scotland said: “This is hugely out of step with public opinion where more than 75% of Scots support a woman’s right to choose and one in three women access abortion healthcare in their lifetime. It is beyond appalling that this meeting was being facilitated by a Labour party shadow minister for equality, and in contradiction of stated Scottish Labour party policy.”

Scottish Labour’s manifesto for the 2016 Holyrood elections contained clear pro-choice commitments, while Jeremy Corbyn recently supported calls for clinics to have a buffer zone to protect women from persistent anti-abortion protesters.

A Scottish Labour party spokesperson said: “The Labour party has a longstanding, clear commitment to a woman’s right to choose and although abortion is now devolved there should be no dilution of women’s rights.”

Smith was unavailable for comment.

Michael Robinson of Spuc Scotland said the organisation remained keen for MSPs to hear from Coleman and learn about “the bigger picture of the impact of abortion”. He added that the need for more information was made more pressing following the devolution of abortion law to Scotland.

Spuc Scotland is currently mounting a legal challenge to the Scottish government’s decision to allow women to take the abortion pill in their own homes.