NINETEEN Bishops are amongst greater than 250 Church of England clergy who’ve signed a letter condemning a move to decriminalise women who induce their very own abortion as “a dangerous change”.
On Tuesday, MPs voted by 379 to 137 in favour of an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill brought by the Labour MP for Gower, Tonia Antoniazzi. This disapplies the present criminal law regarding abortion from women “acting in relation to her own pregnancy”. The amendment doesn’t change any law regarding the supply of abortion inside a healthcare setting.
The letter, published in The Daily Telegraph on Friday, says: “We are troubled by the amendment voted through by the House of Commons on Tuesday to decriminalise terminations in utero as much as full term. As many elected politicians move further away from the Christian moral values which have hitherto shaped much that is nice in our national life, our concern is that the vulnerable and voiceless are increasingly missed.
“The tragedy of abortion will invariably move us to compassion for the pregnant woman, we’re mindful also of the viability of the lifetime of her child who can also be deserving of compassion and desires protection under the law.
“This huge change in our understanding of the place of the termination of pregnancies also risks overlooking the vulnerable position of ladies who’re victims of sexual abuse, domestic abuse and coercion, which is all of the more acute on account of the supply of the abortion pill by post without recourse to in-person consultation with a medical skilled.
”All of this makes for a dangerous change which we consider, removed from protecting women, places pregnant women and unborn children at even greater risk of harm than previously. It is our sincere hope that this laws might be further modified within the House of Lords to guard those that are vulnerable.”
An announcement issued by a Church House spokesperson on Wednesday said: “Whilst women ought to not be criminalised, it’s worrying that this very significant change to the law may result in more late-term abortions, including sex-selective abortions” (News, 20 June).
The Daily Telegraph letter (the signatories numbered 256 on Friday morning) was organised by the Vicar of St Luke’s, Hammersmith, in west London, the Revd Richard Bastable. They include six diocesan bishops: the Bishops of Chichester, Birmingham, Lincoln, Rochester, Hereford, and Blackburn.
In a press release issued on Friday lunchtime, the Bishop of London, the Rt Revd Sarah Mullally, said: “Women facing unwanted pregnancies are confronted with the toughest of selections. Ultimately, they require compassion and care with a purpose to support them fully within the heart-wrenching decision they need to take. They shouldn’t be prosecuted.
“However, decriminalising abortion can at the identical time inadvertently undermine the worth of unborn life. The amendment passed to the Crime and Policing Bill may not change the 24-week abortion limit, nevertheless it undoubtedly risks eroding the safeguards and enforcement of those legal limits. Women affected by coercion, or those that are victims of sexual or domestic abuse, could be probably the most vulnerable to the proposed change, which doesn’t consider improvements to abortion care, nor address the inadequacies of the ‘pills by post’ assessments. These concerns are well set out within the letter signed by over 200 clergy published within the Telegraph this morning.
She continued: “Considering any fundamental reform to this country’s abortion laws shouldn’t be done via an amendment to a different Bill. There needs to be public consultation and robust Parliamentary process to make sure that every legal and moral aspect of this debate is rigorously considered and scrutinised. We need a path that supports women, not one which puts them and their unborn children in the best way of greater harm.”
On Thursday, the chairmen of The Society’s Council of Bishops and Forward in Faith — the Bishop of Fulham, Rt Revd Jonathan Baker, and the Bishop of Oswestry, the Rt Revd Paul Thomas — issued a press release.
“Few can imagine the pain and trauma which have to be experienced by an expectant mother who terminates her pregnancy by the use of abortion,” it said. “Nevertheless, our concern and compassion for girls who’ve or who might experienced this trauma cannot allow us to put aside our very grave concern in regards to the recent amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill, passed within the House of Commons, which effectively decriminalises abortion even at full term.
“Far from protecting pregnant women, this modification to the law would, if enacted, make women within the later stages of pregnancy more vulnerable to ending their pregnancies prematurely and dangerously, once legal safeguards have been removed. Our concern here isn’t just for these unborn children, but for girls experiencing coercion, abuse, or whose mental health is compromised due to circumstances through which they find themselves.
“Coupled with the draft proposals on assisted dying which is able to shortly return to the House of Commons for further consideration, we register our profound disquiet at the way through which respect for the God-given dignity of each human life is being eroded due to the selections of a majority of our elected representatives. We pray that legislators will proceed to uphold the presumption of the sanctity of life and the protection of the vulnerable: values shared not only by all mainstream Christian traditions, but additionally by all historic world faiths.
“As catholic Christians starting our celebrations of the Feast of Corpus Christi today, we give thanks for our calling to be the Body of Christ on this planet and to witness to the dignity of each human life, made within the image and likeness of Almighty God whose divine Son shared our humanity from his conception within the womb of blessed Mary and who gives Himself to us now in the shape of Bread and Wine.”
Statements issued earlier, on the evening of the vote, got here from organisations that included the Evangelical Alliance, which described the result as “a tragic failure. The purpose of abortion law is to guard and support each lives in every pregnancy from toxic substances or dangerous operations. Abortion should remain inside criminal law since it involves the deliberate ending of a human life. Removing each lives in pregnancy from criminal law puts each lives in danger. In effect, Parliament have voted to facilitate dangerous backstreet abortions where dangerous, even late-term abortion is legitimised, and ladies are left more vulnerable than ever.”
Ms Antoniazzi’s amendment followed an earlier try to amend the law by the Labour MP for Kingston upon Hull North, Diana Johnson, who moved an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill under the last government, last yr.
Asked in regards to the Church of England’s position, the then Second Church Estates Commissioner, Andrew Selous, said: “The Church of England believes that the foetus is a human life with the potential to develop, while recognising that there could be strictly limited conditions under which abortion could also be morally preferable to any available alternative.
“The Church also believes that each possible support, especially by church members, needs to be given to those that are pregnant and in difficult circumstances. . . While women shouldn’t face criminalisation, anyone coercing a girl to have an abortion, or providing one beyond the legal limit, or supplying an abortion kit for a late-term use needs to be prosecuted.”
He told MPs that the Church supported the two-week reduction within the age of viability from 24 to 22 weeks’ “protection for Down’s syndrome children to make the case that abortion beyond the legal limit shouldn’t be acceptable for such children.”
In 2022, the then Bishop of Durham, the Rt Revd Paul Butler, opposed the continuation of the “pills by post” scheme established through the Covid-19 pandemic, whereby women could be sent abortion pills by post after a telephone consultation. In the House of Lords, he spoke about “the potential for coercion, the greater possibility of inaccurate assessment, further complications and lack of support. . . In-person visits to a clinic or medical centre proceed to be vital.”
During the talk on Tuesday, the Conservative MP for Reigate, Rebecca Paul, told MPs that only three women had been convicted for an illegal abortion through the past 160 years, in accordance with a former medical director of Marie Stopes. But for the reason that introduction of the telemedicine system, “4 women have appeared in court on similar charges inside an eight-month period. Criminalisation of abortion after 24 weeks isn’t the issue; the pills-by-post scheme is.”
Ms Antoniazzi told MPs that, since 2020, greater than 100 women had been criminally investigated, six had faced court, and one had been sent to prison.
The Conservative MP for South West Devon, Rebecca Smith, a member of Christians in Parliament, referred to freedom-of-information requests which revealed that one in 17 women who took pills by post required hospital treatment — reminiscent of greater than 10,000 women between April 2020 and September 2021. MPs rejected an amendment that might have required women to have an in-person consultation before being prescribed abortion pills lawfully.
