Highest ever abortion rates In England and Wales

 

In a strong statement issued Thursday, 19 June 2008 - The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) has condemned government policies which have generated the highest abortion totals (205,598), the highest abortion rate (18.6 per 1000 residents) and the greatest ever rate of child-abortions, according to figures for 2007 for England and Wales published today. The 13-to-15 abortion rate was 4.4 per thousand girls in that age group, and the under-18 rate was 19.8 per thousand.
John Smeaton, SPUC's national director, said: "The key to explaining the rising trend is found in documents like Recommended Standards for Sexual Health Services, drawn up by a coalition of pro-abortion advocates and abortion providers and endorsed by the government in 2005.
"The figures reflect the Department of Health's policy of performing an abortion as quickly as possible on any woman enquiring. The policy includes arm-twisting doctors who are reluctant to refer for abortion. Many GPs would refuse to refer women for abortions on medical grounds, or for religious or conscientious reasons. The Department of Health brooks none of these objections, but insists that every woman who enquires about abortion is immediately referred for abortion.
"It is a conveyor-belt, one-size-fits-all, approach. There is no counselling routinely offered, and the Department of Health has targets for rushing women through the abortion mill against the clock. Health trusts which miss the target and don't kill enough babies quickly enough are liable to be penalised. "Abortion is more than a social malaise. It is a grave abuse of human rights. It harms women and kills children."
 

 

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), is scheduled to debate a draft resolution adopted by the Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee in March, "Preventing the first form of violence against children: abandonment at birth", on Friday next June 27th. The goal of the resolution is to consider ways to reduce the numbers of children abandoned at birth in member States and to protect the rights of abandoned children, such as the right to determine their origins. There are many good aspects to the resolution such as the promotion of support for pregnant women in difficulty however this is also a pro-abortion resolution which pushes issues such as sexual rights and reproductive health services. In essence abortion is regarded as a preferable option to a later abandonment when in reality both options are completely unacceptable. There also seems to be confusion in the report and the text of the resolution between criminal abandonment and legitimate decisions to place children for adoption. The title of the resolution is fatally flawed in that no consideration is given to the first form of violence against children which is killing them prior to birth. The pretence that the first form of violence against children is abandonment is dishonest in that it considers that life begins at birth not at conception and is based on uncritical acceptance of dominant ideologies rather than reality. The Convention on the Rights of the Child says in its preamble , "The child, by reason of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth." 
 

This week has seen the retirement of the former President of the Pontifical Academy for Life, Bishop Elio Sgreccia and the appointment by Pope Benedict XVI of a new director of the Pontifical Academy.  Bishop Sgreccia has been a staunch defender of life from conception to natural death and during his Presidency arranged a number of major conferences on critical life issues.  His General Assembly in 2006 considered the scientific and medical evidence of the embryo prior to implantation "The Human Embryo before Implantation. Scientific Update and Bioethical Considerations" and his 2007Conference dealt with the Christian conscience: The Christian conscience in support of the right to life. Bishop Sgreccia stressed the need for the continuing formation and a deepening of the conscience in the face of the many cultural and social problems which are surfacing and affect the right to life. He also organised an International Congress on stem cells in September 2006 "Stem cells: what future for therapy?" We wish Bishop Segreccia well in his retirement