‘Sad news’ as House of Lords approves abortion as much as birth

Christians have reacted with sadness after members of the House of Lords did not back amendments that might have removed the decriminalisation of abortion as much as birth from the Crime and Policing Bill. 

Baroness Monckton’s amendment sought to remove clause 208, which accommodates the decriminalisation proposals, entirely from the bill but peers voted against it by 185 to 148 following a debate on Wednesday evening. 

Clause 208 doesn’t change the present 24 week legal limit at which a lady can have an abortion nevertheless it removes criminal sanctions for ladies who perform their very own abortions beyond this point. 

Peers also voted against Baroness Stroud’s amendment to reinstate in-person consultations with a medical skilled prior to at-home abortions by 191 votes to 119.

This has dismayed Christian and pro-life groups who say it effectively legalises abortion as much as birth within the UK for any reason, including on sex-selective grounds.

Simon Calvert, deputy director of The Christian Institute, said, “It is unutterably grim that the House of Lords has voted to allow a lady to take the lifetime of her baby just days before birth.

“They have shown little regard for public feeling which is strongly against this. They have dehumanised the unborn to a shocking latest degree. And they’ve abandoned women.

“Those of us who care concerning the unborn and their moms must renew our efforts to show the implications of what our flesh pressers have done today in order that, someday, it may possibly be reversed.”

Right to Life UK said it’ll end in “one of the crucial significant changes to abortion laws since 1967” – when abortion was first made legal.

“If this bill becomes law, it’ll likely result in a major increase within the number of ladies performing late-term abortions at home, endangering the lives of many more women,” it said. 

This is despite the undeniable fact that polling by Savanta ComRes has found that just one per cent of UK adults support abortion as much as birth, while 89% of the overall population and 91% of ladies consider gender-selective abortion ought to be explicitly banned by the law.

Peter Lynas, UK Director of the Evangelical Alliance, said the votes were “sad news” and that he was “deeply concerned” by them. 

He said that without in-person consultations, the pills-by-post service is missing “an important safeguard for ladies’s safety and wellbeing”. 

“The vote removes any legal deterrent and weakens vital safeguards for ladies and unborn children,” he said. 

“As Christians, we consider every life has inherent dignity. Parliament must now act to deal with the risks created by this decision, ensuring women in crisis pregnancies receive compassionate, life-affirming support, and that each mother and child are cared for with dignity before and after birth.” 

The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) called the votes “disappointing” and said it hoped the selections taken on Wednesday evening could be revisited at Third Reading.

Michael Robinson, executive director of SPUC, said the measures were being “pushed through with none pre-legislative scrutiny, public consultation or an in depth impact assessment”. 

“Watering down the safeguards within the Abortion Act, by tagging on some amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill, has meant that the complete impact of this transformation has not been fully scrutinised or debated,” he said. 

He warned that the changes “will result in late term abortions being carried out on babies who if born in hospital would stand a great probability of surviving”. 

He also raised concerns that there shall be more cases of the pills-by-post service being abused, something that has already been seen within the case of Stuart Worby who was imprisoned after using a girlfriend to acquire abortion drugs within the post and slip them into his pregnant girlfriend’s drink. She lost the infant and was so badly affected that she is now unable to have children. 

“We know that Matt Hancock’s pills by post policy, which legalised DIY home abortions has led to a large increase in 999 calls and ambulance call outs, at the identical time removing the essential safeguard of a face-to-face discussion with a physician,” said Mr Robinson.

Speaking through the debate, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dame Sarah Mullally, reminded the Lords of the Church of England’s “principled opposition” to abortion before happening to talk in support of Baroness Monckton and Baroness Stroud’s amendments. 

“The infinite value of human life is a fundamental Christian principle which underpins much of our legal system and has shaped existing laws on abortion. All life is precious … ” she said. 

Setting out why she couldn’t support clause 208, she said, “Though its intention will not be to vary the 24 week abortion limit, it undoubtedly risks eroding the safeguards and enforcements of those legal limits, and inadvertently undermining the worth of human life.” 

Dame Sarah, who’s the previous government’s Chief Nursing Officer for England, said, “It just isn’t clear how the law can function in an enforceable way without in-person consultation before accessing early medical abortion. The risks, as we have now heard of medical complication is far greater if the pills for early abortion are taken beyond the 11-week limit.” 

She continued: “As I’ve already said, this just isn’t a debate on whether the legal abortion limit should change but we’re liable to it becoming exactly that without the leave as needed to watch and implement the law.”