We should expect activists to try and hijack the Crime and Policing Bill for abortion on demand
COMMENT
The Government is finally set to unveil its flagship Crime and Policing Bill. The Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, says it will ‘take back our streets’ and restore respect for law and order’. But this behemoth is ripe for hijacking in the name of abortion ‘rights’.
Every abortion takes a life. More than 10 million human beings have been killed in Britain since the passing of the Abortion Act in 1967.[1] At present, the death toll runs at around 300,000 a year. Around one in four pregnancies currently end in abortion[2] – almost all for social reasons; deaths justified largely on the grounds of choice, autonomy and convenience.
You would think that on their own these unbearably large numbers would indicate that the current law ought to be weak enough to satisfy even the most fervent pro-abortion campaigners. You would be wrong. There are those on the lookout for any opportunity to remove what few safeguards still remain.
The current law
Under the Offences Against the Person Act[3] it is unlawful for a mother to procure a miscarriage, or for another person to help her to do so. The 1967 Abortion Act disapplies this part of the law under a broad range of circumstances.
Under the ’67 Act (as amended by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990), an abortion becomes lawful if it is carried out by a registered medical practitioner, having been authorised by two doctors, acting in good faith, on one of the following grounds:
You would think that on their own these unbearably large numbers would indicate that the current law ought to be weak enough to satisfy even the most fervent of pro-abortion campaigners. You would be wrong.
So the current law already allows:
- Abortion for babies that, with appropriate specialist care, are able to not only survive, but ultimately thrive outside the womb from 22 weeks or even younger;
- Abortion on the grounds of sex, which almost invariably means, because they’re girls. In February 2015, MPs even rejected an amendment to clarify that abortion on the grounds of sex alone is illegal in Britain;
- Abortion up to birth where the baby is deemed to have a disability. This includes Down’s syndrome and treatable conditions like cleft palate and club foot – riding roughshod over disability rights;
- For doctors to approve an abortion without so much as seeing the mother;[4]
- For abortion pills to be taken at home after just a phone call with a doctor – significantly increasing the risk of potentially life-threatening conditions, such as ectopic pregnancy, being missed and increasing the risk of women being coerced into an abortion.
Upcoming challenges
July’s General Election cut short attempts by activist MPs Dame Diana Johnson and Stella Creasy to hijack the Conservatives’ Criminal Justice Bill to decriminalise abortion. But they won’t give up and another opportunity to ditch the few remaining protections may present itself in the shape of the Labour Government’s incredibly wide-ranging Crime and Policing Bill.
we should expect the pro-abortion lobby to try to use such a law to liberalise abortion law even further
The Government says the new law will tackle knife crime, clamp down on deepfake porn and, importantly for this issue, prioritise the safety of women and girls. But we should expect the pro-abortion lobby to try to use this enormous piece of legislation to liberalise abortion law even further.
In Scotland the process is already under way.
Bowing to the demands of the powerful pro-abortion lobby groups, the Scottish Government has set up an ‘Abortion Law Review Expert Group’. Officially neutral on the issue it is overwhelmingly, if not entirely, staffed by the lobbyists themselves.
Its stated purpose is: “to review the current law on abortion and to provide Scottish ministers with recommendations on whether or not aspects of the existing law should be changed and, if so, advise on potential legislative changes and, if applicable, any other changes needed to support that.”
We can expect the lobbyists to use the process to push for decriminalisation in Scotland too, claiming that women are constantly at risk of being thrown into prison.
However, the facts are that between 2002 and 2023, 291,690 abortions were recorded in Scotland. In that time one woman upon whom an abortion was alleged to have been performed was prosecuted. One other charge was prosecuted under the Concealment of Birth (Scotland) Act 1809.
Claims of a rapid rise in the number of abortion-related prosecutions are grossly overstated.
Women put at risk
It is well-documented that abortion increases the risk of suicide and mental illness, including depression. Far from helping to protect women and girls, abortion on demand will actively harm them.
In 2013, a review of induced abortion and early preterm birth found “…a significant increase in the risk of preterm delivery in women with a history of previous induced abortion”.[5] It is widely recognised that carrying a first pregnancy to birth is protective against breast cancer.[6] However studies have also shown that abortion is significantly associated with an increased risk of breast cancer.[7]
One large study found that one in five women who had chemical abortions (taking a combination of two pills) suffered complications.[8] In fact, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) reported that women are even more likely to require medical help for bleeding and haemorrhaging after a chemical abortion than after surgical abortion (which has its own risks associated with any invasive procedure).
Over 98 per cent of abortions for residents of England and Wales in 2022 were carried out on the grounds that ‘continuing with the pregnancy would involve a greater risk to the woman’s physical or mental health than having an abortion’.[9] Yet one study found women who have had an abortion experience an 81 per cent higher risk of mental health problems when compared with women who have not.[10]
Life-affirming truth
In short, the existing law is so loose that abortions can already be carried out for almost any reason. But enshrining this in law would be even worse. The United Kingdom doesn’t need more abortion, it needs more people to take a stand for the sanctity of life. Christians in particular must keep on speaking against the evil of abortion, and pray for laws to protect the unborn and assist pregnant women.
“…the foetus, though enclosed in the womb of its mother, is already a human being… If it seems more horrible to kill a man in his own house than in a field, because a man’s house is his place of most secure refuge, it ought surely to be deemed more atrocious to destroy a foetus in the womb before it has come to light.”[11] John Calvin
Christian opposition to abortion is not a novelty of modern theology; the Church has stood opposed to it for 2,000 years. The early Church “with unwavering consistency and with the strongest emphasis denounced the practice [of abortion]… not simply as inhuman, but as definitely murder”.[12]
But recognising that abortion is murder is only part of the picture. Every human being, born or unborn, is made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). Indeed, King David famously praises God because he “created my inmost being… knit me together in my mother’s womb”. God saw his “unformed body”; that is, God saw the psalmist as an embryo.
This is a wonderful, life-affirming truth. Let us continue to speak it out unashamedly and be ready for the abortion lobby’s next attempt to accelerate the UK’s abortion death toll.
By Ciarán Kelly, Director