Dr Mark Houghton surveys the situation
I have an important opening remark.
If perhaps you’ve been involved in abortion – God still loves you! Abortion is not the unforgivable sin. Jesus Christ forgives all who come to him in genuine regret. Or perhaps you are pregnant as you read this. Please take time to think through any decision carefully. There are unplanned parents, but no unplanned babies in God’s eyes… a one-hour-old embryo is like a teeming metropolis of creative growth – no accident.
This article covers why abortion is here and what we and churches can do.
Abortion today
Each year British women (and men), with NHS help, abort the equivalent in people of two packed Wembley stadiums (200,000). The majority of these are done for convenience, secrecy or pressure from others.
Our UK communities have lost more healthy people to abortion than any other preventable cause on record – and made the disabled feel disposable.
When one woman in three has had an abortion by the age of 50 one would think it is now accepted.1 However, society is divided. Most women requesting abortion told me they saw the foetus as a full human. NHS staff do not get used to these conflicts of values, such as striving to get one woman pregnant while aborting another.
So, while some professionals push to liberalise the law, public opinion is uneasy.
An online poll, in May 2017, of 2,008 British adults found:
• 93% of women want independent abortion counselling introduced.
• 70% of women would like the current time limit (24 weeks pregnant) to be lowered.2
Why is the public worried?
We know so much more about unborn life:
• Baby albums no longer start at birth but in early pregnancy with scan photos.
• Embryos’ early lives are visibly incredible.
• Premature babies as young as 22 weeks from conception may survive – which raises questions about legal abortion at 24 weeks.
• Disability is not all bad. Take Nick Vujicic, born with no arms or legs. Nick is married and inspires the world. (www.youtube.com/watch?v=nknzSWDcUgA ).
And evidence of harm from abortion is piling up: a higher risk of emotional damage than after birth, severe physical pain, bleeding, infection and infertility. Several studies show that abortion doubles the woman’s risk of dying young, (average age of 28) compared to after giving birth – and the risk persists for ten years.
Here I must apologise for blowing our own trumpet! All this, with the sources, is in our new handbook for pregnant women, written by female counsellors and experienced doctors. Baby specialist Professor John Wyatt explores the evidence that abortion causes premature birth, death and disability of later children (see footnotes).
The Christian view on abortion
Mainstream Christianity has always argued that God views human life as starting at conception. The Bible says: ‘You knit me together in my mother’s womb’ (Psalm 51.5) and ‘from the time my mother conceived me’ (Psalm 51.5). We are made in the image of God, since the Fall imperfect, but priceless reflections of God himself (Genesis 1.26-27). So abortion takes human life and the consequences are grave.
Alice’s story
Alice sat in my GP consulting room (details changed) ‘I was 17 and happy in my church family. But, training in another city, a medical student took me to his room and we had sex. Pregnant! In a daze I slipped secretly into student health where a doctor began filling in a form and hurried me to a clinic. They asked no difficult questions and as they put my legs up I wanted to say: “Stop…”, but no words would come.
‘Afterwards I was relieved but brokenhearted. I saw a female GP who snapped: “You will get over it.” Four years later my mental health cracked and my faith withered. It’s 40 years on and I’m still having psychotherapy. I couldn’t tell my church or family – it was the clinic where I felt accepted. Doctor please, can I ever be forgiven?’ I will never forget the joy on her face as the truth began to set her free: ‘There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus’ (Romans 8.1).
Wonderfully, many churches are more accepting of women like Alice now – because Christ accepts us as we are. Excellent courses like Care’s Open and the Manchester Image Training Course are transforming Christian culture, but there is much more to do.
How did we get to this?
Fifty years ago, the Abortion Act came into force. It put life and death in the hands of the woman and two doctors, the intention being to make life-saving abortion safer. This soon became abortion-on-demand, which had come to stay. Age-old codes of safe practice were swept away, like the Hippocratic Oath – ‘I will not do an abortion’.
To remove an ectopic pregnancy to save the woman’s life is acceptable. However, most abortions are done on the legal grounds that the woman’s mental health will be better afterwards than after birth. Yet evidence from millions of women shows her mental health will most likely be worse.3
The realities
• Misuse of the law is an affront to God who gives law to limit harm (Romans 13.1-5).
• Christ gave choice, but he gave the consequences as well. See how he saved, and warned, the adulterous woman in John 8.3-11.
• Women often feel that they have no choice. Coercion comes from shame, people nearby and professionals. I heard two stories recently of teenagers under huge pressure from GPs to abort, though they wanted the baby and had family support.
What can Christians do?
The climate is hostile and pregnant women may not get real choice.
• Let church be like Christ to pregnant women: open-armed welcome, no shame, no blame, offering help for mother and baby.
• Train for before-and-after counselling with Image, Open or Restore and Rebuild.
• Strengthen our army of Christians in healthcare. Even doctors may not know the research about harm to women from abortion. Our book can help them bring the law back into force.
• ‘The truth shall set you free’ (John 8.32). Pastors, parents and professionals can use the truth and the tools in our book to help women make their own choice.
• Lobby your MP, or become one, to create laws reducing abortion harm to women and the loss of our priceless population.
• Teach the divine consequences for our nation of taking human life (see 2 Kings 17.17-20 and Matthew 23.30-36). God punishes in this life (1 Thessalonians 4.6) and the next (Revelation 21.7-8) but thank God for his mercy, sending his Son not to condemn but to save the world (John 3.17).
Dr Mark Houghton is married with three children and is a member of the Royal College of General Practitioners. After serving in the Nazareth Hospital, Israel, he was a GP in South Yorkshire where they live.
Pregnancy and Abortion - Your Choice by Dr M. Houghton, Dr Esther Lüthy and Professor John Wyatt is published by Malcolm Down and Sarah Grace Publishing 2017, 208 pages, Price £8.95, ISBN 978-1-910786-80-2. Available from Waterstones, bookshops and Amazon worldwide.
How the Handbook Works: It is factual and uses non-judgmental language. Part 1 is a road-tested route to good decision-making during the panicky days of unwanted pregnancy. Part 2 helps her consider her three choices of parenting, adoption or abortion. It also covers: how the law can help; teenagers; men; and antenatal screening. Part 3 is the collected evidence comparing abortion after-effects with birth, written by a global collaboration of experts. One obstetric consultant said: ‘All my staff should have one.’ Spiritual Guidance and Finding Help are at the back of the book.
