abortion
ABORTION.
A History and a Primer. Since 1967 when the Abortion Act became law, debate has been ongoing about the ethical and moral questions pertaining to abortion and if it should remain legal. The complexities of the arguments include:
*At what point does a foetus become a human being?
*Is a foetus part of its mother?
*Does a foetus have a right to life?
*If a foetus has a right to life, does the mother’s right to manage her own body take priority over the rights of the foetus?
The Abortion Act states that when 2 doctors are in agreement an abortion can be carried out if:
"the continuance of the pregnancy would involve risk to the life of
the pregnant woman, or of injury to the physical or mental health of
the pregnant woman or any existing children of her family, greater than
if the pregnancy were terminated,"
OR "there is a substantial risk that if the child were born it would suffer from
such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped."
Today, there are two main sides to the abortion debate, ‘Pro-life’ and
‘Pro-Choice’ (or 'supporters of abortion rights'). Pro-Life
advocates believe that intentional abortion is wrong in all cases apart from some very rare cases where it may be the most
appropriate thing to do. Pro-Choice advocates believe that intentional
abortion is acceptable and should be allowed in some cases. In short
the arguments on each side are as follows:
Arguments for abortion: *For the sake of the mother's health, including mental health.
*Where a pregnancy is the result of a crime, such as rape, incest, or child abuse.
*Where the foetus, if allowed to grow and be born, would have an
‘unacceptable quality of life’, such as serious physical handicaps,
serious genetic problems or serious mental defects.
*Social difficulty such as poverty, mother unable to cope with a child
(or another child) or mother being too young to cope with a child.
*Abortion as a matter of government policy, for example, as a way of regulating population size.
Arguments against abortion: *Deliberately killing an innocent human being is wrong
*A foetus is an innocent human being.
*Abortion is the deliberate killing of a foetus
*Therefore abortion is the deliberate killing of an innocent human being therefore,
abortion is wrong However, in the case where the mother’s life may be at risk:
*Abortion is wrong unless it serves some right of the mother that is as
morally important as the foetus' right to life.
*The right to life
outweighs another person's right to control her own body
*Therefore abortion is wrong unless it serves some greater right of the mother than the right
to control her own body.
*The only such right is the mother's right to live.
*Therefore abortion is wrong unless it is to save the life of the mother.
The Church condemned abortion as early as the 2nd
century CE: a document called the Didache, written in the 2nd century
(some time after 100 CE.), states: "You shall not kill the embryo by abortion and shall not cause the newborn to perish."
The General Synod has passed resolutions on the matter which provide a coherent Church of England position. "The
Church of England combines strong opposition to abortion with a
recognition that there can be - strictly limited-conditions under which
it may be morally preferable to any available alternative" The
Church of England shares the RC view that abortion is 'gravely contrary
to the moral law': "In the light of our conviction that the foetus has
the right to live and develop as a member of the human family, we see
abortion, the termination of that life by the act of man, as a great
moral evil. We do not believe that the right to life, as a right
pertaining to persons, admits of no exceptions whatever; but the right
of the innocent to life admits surely of few exceptions indeed." Then
in a 1983 resolution, Synod went on to state: "In situations where the
continuance of a pregnancy threatens the life of the mother a
termination of pregnancy may be justified and that there must be
adequate and safe provision in our society for such situations."
The Roman Catholic Church says that deliberately causing an abortion is
a grave moral wrong. It bases this doctrine on natural law and on the
written Word of God. It believes that life begins as a human being at
the moment of conception. Since the 16th century, causing or having an
abortion led to automatic excommunication. This is stated in the Code
of Canon Law (1983):
The tragic loss of life (the silent and ongoing Holocaust)…
*6,231,033 babies have lost their lives since the Abortion Act 1967
*More than 10% of the entire UK population
*More than the combined populations of Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol,
Cambridge, Cardiff, Chester, Derby, Edinburgh, Leeds, Leicester,
Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Northampton, Nottingham,
Oxford, and Sheffield
*5 times the UK casualties in two World Wars
*More than 200,000 babies are aborted in Britain each year
*Yearly abortion figures have tripled since 1967 and continue to rise
*More than 600 babies are aborted every day
*More than 3000 a year are killed after 20 weeks.
*Disabled babies can be aborted up to birth.
*More than 450 babies were aborted in 2004 for having Downs Syndrome.
Since abortion was decriminalised in 1967, approaching six million
babies in Britain have died from surgical abortion. Each year in
Britain almost 200,000 babies are aborted. That's 16,000 a month; 3,800
a week; 500 every day. Each one is a human life. What MPs said was intended to help a few women in very difficult
circumstances has become abortion on demand. A woman can now have an
abortion simply because she wants one. One in five pregnancies in
Britain now ends in abortion. The great majority of abortions are done
not because of serious threat to the mother's life or because of severe
handicap, but for purely social reasons. Prayer can make the difference. Prayer can change the Government.
Prayer can change the nation. Human life is infinitely precious. The
Bible teaches that God has a purpose for every human life. That little
one that is conceived could be a Mother Teresa, a David Livingstone, a
Florence Nightingale. So many lives are being extinguished before they
are even born. Many women are not told that what is within them, even in the early
stages of pregnancy, is a living child. Because they find no one to
tell them that someone cares, that there are alternatives to abortion,
that help is available, they often feel that abortion is the only
course for them and they must go through with it.
The physical effects of abortion, as well as a dead baby, can include
perforation of the uterus, increased risk of future miscarriage, and
tubal infection, one of the most common causes of infertility. Women
who have had an abortion can also suffer from post-abortion syndrome.
Symptoms can include sleeplessness, anxiety, guilt, grief, anger,
depression, drug and alcohol abuse, self-destructive behaviour,
difficulties with relationships and severe emotional pain. They need to
be reached with the knowledge that there is forgiveness, healing and
restoration. They need to know that Jesus can provide healing for their
hurt.
Already there have been remarkable answers to prayer. Some 150
Christian pregnancy crisis centres have been set up in Britain to
provide women facing pregnancy with counsel and help. Countless babies have been saved from abortion. Women being prayed for
have changed their minds as they waited for their operation in an
abortion clinic and left the clinic. Many women originally bent
on abortion have decided abortion is not for them and have later had
the pleasure of holding their babies in their arms, grateful that they
have been saved from a decision that they knew would have been wrong. But much needs to be done. Many Christians are confused on the issue.
There are people in Christian congregations suffering as a result of
abortion who don't know to whom they can turn.
Consider. . .
* Human life begins at fertilisation. Every cell in the human body
contains 46 chromosomes. A male sperm contains 23 chromosomes. A female
ovum contains 23 chromosomes. As soon as the two come together, there
is a single cell with 46 chromosomes - 23 from the father and 23 from
the mother. The sex of the new human being, his or her physical
characteristics, height, colour of hair, colour of eyes, are already
determined by the contents of that single cell. Shortly after
fertilisation, the cell begins to divide and multiply. One cell divides
into two, two into four, four into eight. Nothing is added to that
single cell except food and water until that single cell becomes a
mature adult. To destroy the cell after fertilisation is to destroy
human life. The Bible teaches that life begins at conception.
* Three weeks after fertilisation, the baby's heart starts to beat and
the mouth is beginning to open. Six weeks after fertilisation,
electrical impulses from the brain can be recorded. By this time the
baby has eyes, ears and internal organs. During the second month the
child begins to move and responds to touch. Facial features are
forming. At two months, the baby can swim vigorously in the fluid which
surrounds it. It has fingers and toes.
* Modern technology has made it possible to produce colour photographs
of the baby in the womb in all its detail. You may have seen pictures
of babies at eight weeks with hands and feet, fingers and toes.
* During the third month, the child has fingerprints. He can turn his
head, curl his toes, open and close his mouth and make a tight fist.
Fingernails and toenails appear. He drinks, digests and urinates.
Sexual differentiation is already clear. Most abortions are carried out
between nine and 12 weeks.
* Women seeking abortion are not told that what is within them is a
living child. Doctors seeking to spare women's feelings tell them "It's
just a clump of cells." Abortion clinics tell women it is not yet a
baby.
* Women are not advised of the nature of the operation. They know they
are to have an abortion, but very often do not understand that it
involves the dismembering of a living child.
* Women are not warned of the possible effects of abortion - infection,
increased risk of future miscarriage, increased risk of future ectopic
pregnancy and in some cases infertility. Above all, of the terrible
feelings of guilt which can follow abortion, sometimes for years.
Christ offers complete forgiveness and cleansing from all sin. They
need to know about that too.
* In 2002 there were 184,993 recorded abortions in England and Wales.
No less than 94 per cent were done because of "risk of injury to the
physical or mental health" of the mother. Four per cent were because of
"risk of injury to the physical or mental health" of existing children.
One per cent were because of risk that the child would be seriously
handicapped. Of these, a third were because of chromosomal
abnormalities. Twenty per cent of those (a total of 376) were because
of Down's syndrome. Only one abortion was an emergency abortion to save
the mother's life or prevent grave permanent injury to her physical or
mental health. Three-quarters of the abortions were on single women. The abortion rate
was highest in the 20-24 age group. Medical abortions - using the
abortion pill - accounted for a highest-ever 14 per cent of the total.
Fifty women pregnant with more than one baby had "selective
terminations" to reduce the babies to the wanted number. Of all the
women having abortions, 31 per cent had had one or more abortions
previously. (The
above figures do not include early abortions caused by the
morning-after pill and some so-called contraceptives, for instance, the
IUD, and at times, the pill, which allow fertilisation but prevent
subsequent implantation of the embryo in the uterus.)
* Since the Human Embryology Act in 1990, it is possible to have an abortion up to birth.
* The Government has approved the sale of the morning-after pill over
the chemist's counter to women of 16 and over without a doctor's
prescription. The main purpose of the morning-after pill is to prevent
the new embryo from implanting in the uterus after fertilisation so
that it dies. It is in fact a do-it-yourself early abortion kit.
Pro-lifers complained that chemists would be unable to check girls'
ages or medical records or ensure aftercare, and that easier
availability of the pill would increase promiscuity.
* The Government has also passed a regulation allowing school nurses
and other health professionals to supply the morning-after pill. School
nurses can now give out the morning-after pill free to girls without
limit on age and without informing parents, teachers or the girls' GPs.
Although the Government has admitted there have been no tests on the
morning-after pill's effects on girls under 14, it has been given in
schools to girls as young as 11. There are also schemes around the
country run by local health authorities where the morning-after pill
can be obtained free by women and girls as young as 12.
* The Government announced that the RU486 abortion pill would be made
available free at family planning centres to women of all ages -
including under-age girls without the consent of their parents - in a
bid to make abortion easier and cheaper. It was previously available
only in hospitals and abortion clinics. The British Pregnancy Advisory
Service, Britain's largest private abortion provider, has now asked the
Government at allow women to use the abortion pill at home and dispose
of the aborted fetus in the toilet.
* The Government's guidelines on sex education say children need to
know how to access abortion. A booklet on abortion aimed at 14 to
18-year-olds published by the Family Planning Association and offered
to schools says abortion is safe, and gives addresses and telephone
numbers of organisations offering abortion.
* Pro-abortion organisations are campaigning for easier access to
abortion and for free abortion on the NHS whenever it is needed. They
want the law changed to allow abortion on request in the first three
months of pregnancy, to allow abortion from 15 to 24 weeks with the
approval of only one doctor instead of two as at present, and to force
doctors with a conscientious objection to abortion to declare it and
refer a woman immediately to another doctor who does not share that
view. They also want to extend these conditions to Northern Ireland.
* Less then half of the abortions in the UK are performed on NHS
premises, and the remainder in private abortion clinics. For the
companies who own the private clinics, abortion is big business.
Because they are registered as charities, they are exempt from direct
taxation, and receive substantial financial support, indirectly from
the taxpayer, for abortion contracted out to them from the NHS.
* There are some 70 referral agencies licensed by the Government to
offer advice on abortion. The majority of them are controlled by the
same proprietors as the abortion clinics.
* In Britain there are now some 150 Christian pregnancy centres, where
trained volunteers offer free pregnancy tests, advice, friendship and
help.
Some prayer guidelines
1. Pray for the Christian church. Ask for forgiveness for the church
and all of us in it for permitting the Abortion Act and largely
standing aside while five million babies have died. Pray Christians
will understand the eternal truths which support pro-life convictions.
Pray they will be aware of the facts concerning the development of
unborn babies, and that these facts will be clearly presented to
others. Pray for Christians to be committed both to prayer and to
action, including reaching out to those in need.
2. Pray for the Government - that they will recognise they are
appointed by God to represent Him in government and have a need before
God to protect innocent human life. Pray they will recognise that
unborn babies are persons too. Pray for pro-life MPs and pro-life
members of the House of Lords.
3. Pray for the media, for those who will recognise the truth and be
fearless in proclaiming it. Pray for the evil of abortion to be
exposed. Pray people will become aware of the facts concerning the
existence of life from conception.
4. Pray for the nation, that in wrath, God will remember mercy.
Pray
for a turning to Him, a forsaking of wickedness and a healing of our
land.
5. Pray for mothers and fathers contemplating abortion. Pray God will
speak clearly to their hearts. Pray they will understand that children
are a gift from God, that He has a purpose for each life, and that if
they need help, help is available. Pray for the babies. Pray for the
effects of today's day of prayer. Pray babies will be saved from death
today. Pray families will come to know Christ's salvation.
6. Pray for women who have suffered abortion, and their families. Pray
there will be people on hand who will understand their pain and be able
to minister forgiveness and healing. Pray that all women suffering from
abortion may be reached with the knowledge of the love of Christ.
7. Pray for all pro-life organisations and all working with mothers and
babies. Pray for pro-life pregnancy centres. Pray they will be
effective in reaching mothers threatened by abortion, women who have
suffered abortion, and young people who need to hear about the sanctity
of human life. Pray for a pro-life pregnancy centre in every town.
There are pro-life telephone helplines for people with crisis pregnancy
and post-abortion problems. Pray people will get to know about them and
use them.
8. Pray for pro-life doctors, nurses and other health care workers.
Pray they will have a determination to stand against pressure to
conform. Pray for medical students and trainee nurses, that they may
understand the issues and decide to stand for life.
9. Pray for a more positive perception of adoption, and that where
mothers feel unable to care for a baby, they will consider adoption a
preferable alternative to abortion.
10. Pray for doctors who are pro-abortion. Pray for doctors who falsely
sign forms saying women's mental health is endangered, thus providing
abortion on demand. Pray for those involved in abortion - abortionists,
abortion clinic owners, abortion counsellors, and nurses. Do not pray
condemnation on them. Pray they will come to repentance. Pray that out
of them will come an effective Christian witness.
11. Pray about attempts to alter the law to extend abortion to Northern Ireland.
12. Pray specifically for hospitals and clinics in your area where
abortions are carried out, for abortion referral agencies in your area
whose job it is to direct women to the clinics, for women in your area
facing unwanted pregnancy and for women in your area suffering as a
result of abortion.
13. Besides surgical abortion, pray about chemical abortion, about
early abortions brought about by the morning-after pill and some
so-called contraceptives. Pray about the destruction of human embryos -
about whatever involves the destruction of human life.
14. Pray for children and young people in schools, colleges and
universities. Pray they may find good role models and be reached with a
positive message about the sanctity of human life and the value of
chastity outside of marriage. Pray for those organisations attempting
to reach young people with such a message.
Remember that God hears and answers prayer. He has promised. Never doubt that your prayers will make a difference. If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and
pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I
hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
2 Chron 7:14
This is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing
according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us,
whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired
of him. 1 John 5:14,15
Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may
be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will
do it. John 14:13, 14
Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. . .
ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. John 16:23,24