Caroline Ansell, Director of Advocacy and Policy share about protecting life as two bills go before parliament this week.
Thank you to all of you who have taken action on the assisted suicide Bill over the last few months. A crucial third reading vote is expected to take place on Friday – if there is no move to delay this. We would encourage you to write to your MP ahead of the vote, to ask them to vote the Bill down. You can visit our updated Take Action page to do this quickly and easily.
The Bill is even more dangerous after the most recent report stage debates. Last week, an amendment to prevent doctors raising assisted suicide with patients who have not raised it themselves was voted down, as was a move to strengthen a ban on advertising the practice. Some MPs are waking up to the dangers of the Bill – press reports have suggested that more than a dozen are now wavering.
Write to your MP about the assisted suicide bill
MP’s voted yesterday on the alarming abortion decriminalisation amendments. Two amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill mean that women who perform their own late abortion after the legal limit of 24 weeks would no longer be considered to have committed an offence. At this stage the baby is practising breathing and could survive outside the womb.
These amendments would also remove any illegality from aborting a baby based on its sex. Whilst abortion is legal up to 24 weeks (and up to full term where a mother’s life is in jeopardy or the baby is found to have a disability) these amendments essentially mean that for the mother, no abortion would be a crime – at any stage, and for whatever reason.
This comes in the context of a ‘pills by post’ scheme, which removed a requirement for in-person medical appointments before abortion pills are supplied. This has seen women taking abortion pills at later stages in their pregnancy, with harrowing and dangerous consequences. An amendment has been tabled to restore in-person consultations, which we support.
All told, this is an incredibly sad week for those who believe in the inherent dignity of human life. Both abortion and assisted suicide trample on human dignity, and result in terrible abuses. It is often the most vulnerable and marginalised people in society who suffer the worst harm.
Whatever happens in the votes this week, it is right to speak up for the vulnerable. As the book of Proverbs reminds us: ‘Speak out for those who cannot speak, for the rights of all the destitute. Speak out, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy’ (Prov. 31:8-9, NIV).
Let’s take action and continue to pray for God’s mercy. Thank you for standing with us in these most serious days for our culture.
Source: CARE
