Pro-life MP: ‘Sea change needed to change hearts on abortion’

The Chair of the Pro-Life All-Party Parliamentary Group has highlighted the challenge of persuading UK politicians to change their minds on aborting the unborn.

Writing in the Newsletter, Carla Lockhart DUP MP reported that although some MPs have changed their view on DIY abortions and abortion on the grounds of disability, there “remains the need for a sea change in opinion if we are to get life affirming laws in the UK”.

According to the Department of Health, 2,550 abortions have been performed in Northern Ireland since March 2020. Last year, there were 214,869 abortions in England and Wales, the highest number since records began.

‘Most precious gift’

Lockhart highlighted that, during the coronavirus pandemic, medics “fought heroically with every fibre to save lives in COVID wards and ICU departments across the country”, while “at the same time precious lives were being ended, facilitated by an increasingly liberalised legislative framework relating to abortion”.

Lockhart commented: “There was no daily dashboard for these deaths. No daily press conferences for publicity hungry politicians. No newspaper headlines with apocalyptic warnings, no SAGE advice outlining how to protect these lives.”

She stated that this “sadly is deemed normality when it comes to the unborn child and their place in society”.

But the MP said she will continue her work to protect the unborn despite any “vitriol or abuse” she may face, because it is about “safeguarding the most precious gift – the gift of life – and it must be fought with determination, and compassion for both mother and baby”.

‘Unnecessary’

Last week, MPs in the House of Commons backed the introduction of ‘buffer zones’ around abortion clinics in England and Wales.

An amendment to the Government’s Public Order Bill to outlaw the offering of prayer and advice to women outside of abortion clinics was accepted by 297 votes to 110. Under the proposals, anyone found guilty of breaching the rules could face six months in prison.

Speaking to the House during the debate, Lockhart said: “In the vast majority of cases, there is no evidence that hospitals and abortion clinics are affected by protesters, so a blanket ban is an unnecessary and disproportionate response, especially when the police can protect women through other lawful means. The police already have the tools they need to protect women.”

She added: “You know, not every woman that walks into those clinics actually wants to go through with the termination. There’s immense pressure, maybe they don’t have financial means to support themselves or their baby, or they feel like there’s no alternatives. These people offer alternatives.”