slaughter of the innocents

All is well in the ‘abortion industry’and it seems some politicians are ‘aiding and abetting’ …

50 plus years of liberal legal access to abortion has inflicted on our nation a mass slaughter of innocent, vulnerable, unborn babies. At the time of writing nearly 9 million unborn babies have so far been killed by abortion in Britain.

It is too easy to be numbed by such high numbers of dead children and simply look away. As the brutal Soviet dictator, Joseph Stalin, once said: “The death of one man is a tragedy, the death of millions is a statistic.” Stalin was arguably an expert on this topic since his regime killed as many as 43 million people.  But God sees things very differently. To Him every single aborted baby is a unique, special individual, very much loved by Him. How God must grieve over the mass slaughter of the children and over the indifference of so much of His church to their desperate plight. The Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) shows us that God wants us to be pro-active in helping those in need, not indifferent. At the end of that parable Jesus made it very clear that we must ‘go and do likewise.’

Britain’s society has become so used to the evil of abortion that pro-abortionists have been emboldened to campaign for the total decriminalisation of abortion. As deeply flawed as the 1967 Abortion Actis, at least it imposes some legal restrictions on when an abortion can be obtained. Total decriminalisation will mean no legal restraints whatsoever on abortion.The end result will be even higher numbers of dead babies.   

Making a difference

The pro-life organisation, the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) reports that the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), Britain’s largest abortion provider, launched ‘We Trust Women’, a campaign calling for all restrictions on abortion in the criminal law to be abolished, in February 2016. In May 2016 the Royal College of Midwives decided to back the BPAS campaign. The British Medical Association voted to back decriminalising abortion in June 2017. In September 2017, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists voted likewise.   

SPUC commented: “The medical bodies which should be caring for unborn babies and their mothers are calling for an extreme abortion measure which will leave both mother and child at increased risk.” It is currently running an urgent and crucial mass letter writing campaign in which they hope to mobilise at least 25,000 letters to be sent to the UK Parliament urging MPs to oppose abortion decriminalisation. SPUC’s guidelines for the mass letter writing campaign state:

“Pro-abortions MPs are determined to find ways to decriminalise abortion as soon as possible. We could be facing dangerous proposals in Parliament this autumn. That is why we must act now to influence MPs before any legislative proposals come before Parliament.“

“MPs tell us over and over and over again that personal letters from their constituents make a difference.”

“Personal letters are still the best way to influence your MP. It shows your MP you have taken the trouble to spend time putting your views to them.”

“Spread this message far and wide among your family, friends, church and contacts.”

This is a very crucial and urgent campaign to save preborn babies from even more slaughter. Please do contact SPUC as soon as possible to order their guidelines and briefing for SPUC’s mass letter-writing campaign against abortion decriminalisation. Contact SPUC by telephone: 020 7091 7091 or email: orders@spuc.org.uk. Please also urge many of your trusted contacts and your church to take similar action. We need as many people as possible to stand up for unborn babies and to defend them from the mass slaughter of abortion. Do consider signing up for the SPUC newsletter and also for the newsletter of SPUC’s evangelical subdivision, SPUC Evangelicals. Phone SPUC to request this. 

A wall by any other name …

The combination of pro-life campaigning and prayers can make a huge difference, as illustrated by the recent victory against buffer zones.

The Home Secretary rejected the idea of implementing nationwide “buffer zone” legislation around abortion clinics, SPUC reported on 13 September. In a written statement announcing the result of the Home Office’s review into so-called “protests” outside abortion clinics, the Home Secretary, Sajid Javid,stated that it would “not be a proportionate response” to introduce national buffer zones. Pro-abortion campaigners had been trying to secure laws imposing buffer zones around abortion clinics all across the country. This would have meant a national legal ban on pro-life vigils, pro-life counsellors and even prayers outside abortion clinics. Such buffer zones have already been established by some local councils, such as in the London Borough of Ealing. SPUC reported that despite the best efforts of the pro-abortion lobby to characterise peaceful pro-life vigils as violent protests where women are harassed, the review said that “the main activities reported to us that take place during protests include praying, displaying banners and handing out leaflets.”

Antonia Tully, Director of SPUC, said: “This is a massive victory for common sense, democracy and above all for the hundreds of vulnerable women who are saved from the horror of abortion at the very gates of the abortion clinic … Throughout our campaign to protect prolife vigils our thoughts have always been for the mothers who need help, even as they are walking into the abortion clinic, and for the many babies and children alive today because of an encounter with a loving pro-life citizen.”

As part of their campaign against buffer zones SPUC had dispatched over 80,000 postcards to people who wanted to let the Home Secretary know that the freedom to oppose abortion, to pray for unborn babies and to offer help to women, must be upheld. This proves that we can make a difference to save babies’ lives if we are willing to act and pray.  The freedom to oppose abortion, to pray for unborn babies and to help women in crisis in public places has been upheld. Thank God for this victory. Pray that whatever buffer zones around abortion clinics that do currently exist will very soon be permanently removed and that no further buffer zones will ever be imposed in Britain. Pray also against the decriminalisation of abortion in Britain, that that will never happen.

Trouble up north?

On 7 September the Christian Institute reported that according to new lesson plans drawn up for theScottish Government, children in Scottish schools should not worry about breaking the law if they have sex at 13. The draft Relationships, Sexual Health and Parenthood (RSHP) resource suggests teaching pupils aged 12 to 14 that although sex under the age of 16 is illegal, those aged 13 and over could engage in sexual activity without fear of reprimand.Critics say it would effectively lower the age of consent.

The lesson plan says that one or both children “might be at risk of being prosecuted”if two 13 to 15-year-olds have sex, but adds prosecution would be very unusual “if both young people are happy”.It tells teachers that the age of consent “is really to protect young people from adults, not make them feel worried or frightened”. It does note that if someone over the age of 16 has sex with a minor, they are breaking the law.

And spreading to Ireland?

The 1967 Abortion Act does not cover Northern Ireland, where extensive legal restrictions on abortion still exist. But the Scottish Government has been actively facilitating the provision of abortion to women from Northern Ireland. SPUC has condemned proposals from the Scottish Government to provide travel and accommodation bursaries for Northern Irish women using Scottish abortion services. Scottish Health Secretary Jeane Freeman has revealed that the Scottish Government will consider funding these expenses after calls from Labour MSP Kezia Dugdalein June urging Nicola Sturgeon to add the policy to her agenda. If the proposals are adopted even more taxpayers’ money will be wasted on abortion.

SPUC reported that a letter from Ms Freeman which recently surfaced, states: “The Scottish Government believes all women should have access to abortion services as part of routine care, and available free from stigma and harassment. While we have introduced arrangements to allow women from Northern Ireland to access abortion services in Scotland without being charged, I note your concerns that there are still costs associated with their travel and accommodation.” She continued: I recognise that providing funding for travel and accommodation would be helpful in these situations, particularly for patients on low income. I would like to reassure you that the Scottish Government are carefully considering the options for further support to women from Northern Ireland.”

SPUC points out that these suggestions ignore the opinion of the Scottish people. A January 2018 Comres poll revealed that 67% of Scottish voters thought it unacceptable for Scottish taxpayers to pay for the travel, accommodation and medical costs of Northern Irish women to have abortions in Scotland. Whether you live in Scotland or not, please send an email to the First Minister in the Scottish Government, Nicola Sturgeon MSP. Her email address is: firstminister@gov.scot. Include your full street address.

Express your concern about the above-mentioned lesson plans drawn up for the Scottish Government, which in effect lower the age of consent and also make children even more vulnerable to predatory adults. In addition, urge that the Scottish Government not provide travel and accommodation bursaries for Northern Irish women using Scottish abortion services and also stop providing abortion free of charge to women from Northern Ireland. Stress that this is a waste of taxpayers’ money and what the January 2018 Comres poll revealed.