An online conference last November lifted the lid on the silent scandal of ‘DIY’ abortions. More than 110,000 babies have been killed in England and Wales since March 2020. This has followed government policy allowing abortions at home under coronavirus emergency measures. Two mothers have also died through these unattended, self-administered abortions.
Andrea Williams (Christian Concern) surveyed the history of UK abortion law and culture, relating it to other pertinent issues such as embryo research, artificial insemination, and the weakening of marriage and the family unit. She gave a detailed run-down of that crucial week last March when the government performed a double U-turn to permit DIY abortion – a provision still in place today.
A sobering reality borne out in Andrea’s close engagement with this sequence of events was the power enjoyed by the abortion lobby to get things done through allies in the civil service, even to the point of pressurising and effectively overruling government ministers.
Kevin Duffy (ex-director of Marie Stopes International) also spoke and was interviewed by Dave Brennan (director of Brephos, a project of the Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform UK). Kevin shared experiences of working in the abortion industry at a senior level prior to renouncing the practice and supporting the pro-life cause.
Kevin also shared some shocking findings following a ‘secret shopper’ campaign he helped organise. In the campaign, abortion providers were shown to be willing to post powerful abortion drugs to women who weren’t even pregnant, or who said they wanted an abortion to preserve their ‘bikini body’ ahead of a holiday, or who wanted the pills to give to someone else.
Dave Borlase (Intercessors for Britain) spoke on ‘Biblical Repentance: Why and How?’. He underlined the seriousness with which Scripture takes the shedding of innocent blood and the impact it has on the standing of God’s people when such bloodshed happens in their midst. He also stressed the significance of sins of omission – how the church often fails to be a voice for the voiceless.
Dave Brennan then interviewed his colleague at CBRUK, Aisling Goodison, on ways to present the pro-life cause effectively, including finding common ground, using powerful analogies, and asking good questions.
Mr Brennan then closed the conference by exhorting church leaders to three simple actions: teaching congregations about abortion; setting aside prayer meetings dedicated to this issue; and promoting ‘pro-life teams’ within congregations.
The conference is available on Brephos’s YouTube channel.
Dave Brennan
