Posted by The Bishop of Chester has questioned whether a society that has “virtually embraced abortion on demand” can continue to regard children as a “precious gift”.
Bishop Peter Forster raised the issue in the House of Lords in the light of recent controversy around the subject.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has spoken out in favour of reducing the abortion limit from 24 to 12 weeks, while Home Secretary Theresa May and Culture Secretary Maria Miller have suggested they would back a 20-week limit.
During a debate he initiated on child care, he asked how society could work towards “a rediscovery of an understanding of children as a precious gift, irrespective of whether we wish to add ‘of God’.”
He added: “Can a society which has virtually embraced abortion on demand really continue to regard its children as precious gifts?
“I say that as someone who acknowledges that mothers and fathers can face difficult dilemmas, and I have never taken an absolute stance on abortion.
“But when nearly 25 per cent of recognised pregnancies are deliberately ended, what culture towards children does that promote? This is not the subject of today’s debate, but I cannot avoid a passing reference. We need a wider discussion about this whole matter.”
“You shall not murder.” Exodus 20:13
Except where the mother’s life is threatened (arguably this applies to underage girls who are made pregnant by predatory males, obviously to women with grave medical conditions like eclampsia, and perhaps to victims of incest), abortion is a terrible evil. When there is no reason to take the unborn child except for expediency’s sake, that is murder of the worst kind. There are thousands of couples throughout Europe and North America who want to adopt healthy newborns, to the point where these couples go trawling throughout the third world for infants to adopt. Killing an unborn child because it is simply inconvenient is a crime that cries out to Heaven. Contraceptives are so widely available, there is no reason why any adult woman should “accidentally” become pregnant in the developed world. As for the men who share the moral guilt in this abysmal situation, let us leave them to Heaven, since they so adamantly refuse to accept any and all responsibilities here on earth.