The dust is settling following the general election. Christians are processing the implications for religious freedoms and the cause of Christ across the UK.
As we do this, it is worth reflecting on how the smallest and most vulnerable of our number will be affected. How will Labour’s victory impact our unborn neighbour?
While other groups in society undoubtedly require particular support (the disabled, the elderly, etc.), the single most at-risk group in our nation are children in the womb.
By way of reminder, since 1967 it has been legal to dismember unborn children up to 24 weeks’ gestation, or, under certain circumstances, up until birth.
Well in excess of 10 million children in the UK have been killed since 1967, with most abortions now being ‘medical’ – administered by pills which kill the child at an early stage of gestation. The deceased child is then typically delivered at home and flushed down the toilet.
Under the last parliament a series of disastrous measures were introduced that have further eroded legal protections for unborn children.
These included extending abortion into Northern Ireland. This was imposed by Westminster (against the general wishes of the Northern Irish people) through a 2019 amendment by Labour MP Stella Creasy.
Within England, in 2023 Labour MP Rupa Huq tabled an amendment to a Public Order Bill that led to a peaceful pro-life presence outside abortion facilities being made a criminal offence. To hand out literature, engage in conversation, or even pray silently in these ‘buffer zones’ is now illegal.
Genocide
The numbers of children aborted every year also continues to increase. On 23 May the government released the abortion figures for 2022. The statistics are truly horrifying.
In 2021 there were 624,828 live births and 214,869 abortions in England and Wales. In 2022 the number of live births plummeted to 605,479. However, the total number of pregnancies actually increased from 839,697 to 857,601. The reason for this discrepancy: 37,253 more abortions – a staggering total of 252,122 children killed.
In 2021, 25.6% of all pregnancies ended in abortion; in 2022 this had risen to 29.4% of all pregnancies.
Put differently, for every 10 unborn children, three were killed in the womb.
252,122 lives – over a quarter of a million – is an astonishing figure. It is more than the population of Southampton. It equates to 9,337 infant school classes of 27 children. All killed.
Given the upward trajectory, it is sobering to think that the data for 2023 and 2024 may be even higher.
Our response
What can one say in response to such appalling loss of human life? How should we think about a society and political leaders who approve of and facilitate this industrial-scale slaughter of innocents?
Imagine the popular furore that culling 250,000 badgers or grey squirrels would generate.
Yet, unborn human life has become so pitifully cheap in this country that activists, journalists, and many of our elected officials are still not satisfied we are killing enough unborn children and clamour for yet more blood.
We should also realise the deleterious effect that the introduction of pills by post (originally a temporary covid measure) has had. Removing such minimal safeguards, (including determining gestational age) has created a situation where, for example, Carla Foster was able to kill her unborn child Lily, whose gestational age was between 32 and 34 weeks.
Pills by post should be ended as soon as possible. This tragic case simply illuminates the scale of the devastation. 252,122 children, like Lily, were killed in 2022, all made in God’s image and likeness.
What must the Lord think when he looks upon our nation?
Labour’s abortion record
There is very little sense in which the last government has been good news for the unborn child.
That said, the situation may be about to become much worse. As noted, both the MPs responsible for this recent pro-abortion legislation were part of Labour, and they will doubtless feel emboldened by Sir Keir Starmer’s victory.
Rupa Huq and Stella Creasy may be promoted. Before Labour took power, not a single one of their shadow cabinet held pro-life views, not even shadow health secretary Wes Streeting, whose own mother bravely resisted pressure to abort him while he was in her womb.
Sir Keir Starmer’s own record on abortion is not good. While Director of Public Prosecutions in 2013, he deemed it ‘not in the public interest’ to prosecute doctors in Birmingham and Manchester who agreed to abort unborn children on the basis of their (female) gender alone.
So much for feminism! For all the talk about compassion and caring for the most vulnerable, the recently elected Labour government is ideologically and passionately pro-abortion, and there is going to be huge pressure to liberalise abortion law further, perhaps even decriminalise abortion entirely.
This will no doubt mean a surge in cases like that of Carla and Lily Foster, with babies destroyed up to birth and sometimes after birth.
Christian vigilance
Christians need to be vigilant of the dangers and proactive in counteracting these possibilities.
As well as continuing to pray, perhaps congratulate your newly elected MP, while expressing your concerns for the unborn child and encouraging him or her to use their influence for the good of children in the womb.
If you are part of a church that hasn’t heard teaching on the reality of abortion or advocating for our unborn neighbour, please do consider contacting Brephos – an evangelical ministry that exists for this very purpose – to speak to your congregation: www.brephos.org.
This is a truly life-and-death matter. Remaining silent will only enable unbiblical legislation and practice, perpetuating the massacre of innocents.
