HFE Bill - my thoughts, part two

One of the amendments being tabled is to lower the abortion limit and this is a piece of legislation I would like to see in place. It has been shocking to read some of the abortion statistics, and to discover that Britain is well out of step with other European countries in allowing late-term abortions. On the news we’ve seen the celebration of life in China as survivors are pulled from the rubble of the earthquake – the irony struck me considering the demonstrably high value being placed on human life by the Chinese rescuers making every attempt to bring people alive from the womb of the earth, contrasting with my own country’s demonstrably low value being placed on the life of a baby in the womb of a mother who doesn’t want it.

In college I shared a home for a while with a very lovely and well brought-up Catholic girl who had campaigned against abortion. When she became pregnant, she stood by her principles and carried the baby to full-term, gave birth and gave the baby up for adoption. It wasn’t easy for her, being an unmarried mother and continuing her studies – very inconvenient – and her parents were not incredibly supportive. I believe she wasn’t allowed home during the pregnancy (to protect her younger siblings from learning of her immorality, I seem to recall). How I admire her moral courage which meant she gave the gift of a beautiful new-born baby to a couple who had desperately wanted a child to complete their family but were unable to conceive one themselves. To me, that makes a lot more sense than the current state of affairs, where thousands upon thousands of potentially healthy babies are aborted, whilst thousands of couples who long for a baby can’t have one without the thoroughly intrusive and heart-wrenching business of fertility treatment.