Fifty-five years ago, on 27 October 1967, an Act legalising abortion in certain carefully defined circumstances received Royal Assent. Very broadly, termination became legal where continuation of the pregnancy was deemed to carry serious risk to the life or mental health of the mother, greater than if the pregnancy were to continue; where there was a risk of injury to the physical or mental health of any existing children of the family; or where it was known that the foetus had a serious mental or physical disability.
Based on the assumption of viability, the upper time limit for termination was set at 28 weeks, and it had passed its third reading the previous July by 262 to 181 votes.
At the time the Bill's proposer, David Steel MP, expressed the opinion that there might at most be around 300 abortions a year. The figure was to prove a wild under-estimate. In England and Wales over the last 55 years we have seen 10 million abortions, 98% of which have been performed for what are euphemistically termed 'social reasons', meaning that at the time, for whatever reason, the child was simply unwanted.
The reality is that from the time the Abortion Act came into effect on 27 April 1968, both women and men have tended to view legal termination as a green light allowing unrestrained sex whenever, wherever and with whomsoever they want, without fear of consequence.
To put this into some kind of perspective, as of Tuesday 25 October, the current population of the United Kingdom stands at 68,718,715. Effectively, therefore, over the last 55 years we have lost around 7% of our entire population for no other reason, in the main, than the convenience of those demanding a right to have sex.
Indeed, it is perhaps horrifyingly accurate to say that sex has become the new god, on whose altar the unborn are daily sacrificed. Small wonder, then, that society is in such a mess and that evil has grown so strong.
So-called pro-choice activists will of course dismiss this interpretation as wicked and extremist hyperbole – the sort of thing they'd expect from religious bigots who haven't caught up with the reality of modern life. They are of course entitled to their views, but to have any chance of surviving the world's current downward spiral into chaos, I would suggest we perhaps consider what the Bible has to say about the effects of sin - which, beyond question, makes uncomfortable reading for those who put themselves at odds with God!
First off, the Bible says that all life is precious and made in the image of God. But it goes further, startlingly asserting that God knows us from even before our conception. For instance, God says to the prophet Jeremiah, 'Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, before you were born, I set you apart...'. And the verse continues, 'I appointed you a prophet to the nations (1:5).'
Biology tells us life begins at conception, but the Bible says clearly that God knows us from even before conception and that, amazingly, He has a plan for our lives! Pretty awesome, when you think about it. Every one of those 10 million aborted babies had a unique destiny,that only they could fulfil, which must surely mean the human race has been immeasurably impoverished. But we shall never now know the gifts that have been lost.
There is, however, far more. In the Bible, taking innocent life is labelled murder and it is prohibited (Exodus 20:13). Murder not only carries the death penalty (e.g. Numbers 35:30-31), but it also places the perpetrator under a curse (e.g. Genesis 4:11f). Seen in this light, taking the life of an innocent and defenceless unborn child – whose life, according to the Bible, unequivocally began at conception – is murder. Without repentance, it carries therefore the penalty of death, and places those involved under a curse.
The spiritual effects of abortion, however, don't stop here.
We have a new religion in the UK, dedicated to the worship of self. Abortion is blood sacrifice of the unborn that feeds this new religion. To understand why this matters, we need to know that sacrifice in the pagan world was seen as transactional, with devotees seeking to feed or appease the demonic spirit to whom it was made, in order to gain favour or power. Child sacrifice was thought to be especially powerful, and the Bible notably singled it out for unconditional condemnation (e.g. Leviticus 18:21).
Today, it's argued that abortion gives women control over their lives, enabling so-called 'reproductive choice'. But that choice feeds the climate of sexual licence and easy promiscuity that is one of the main pillars of society's worship of Self. Let us make no mistake, conditions may have changed and our culture may have superficially evolved, but at heart this remains a straight battle between good and evil, with the devil fighting to assert supremacy.
It is our acceptance of this delusion of control and insistence on our 'rights' that has allowed evil to gain such a stranglehold, and that is directly responsible for the breakdown that we are seeing in society today. The bottom line is, we have rejected God, in His place celebrating the demonic – and, as a result, God has withdrawn His protection.
Covid, economic collapse, family breakdown, sexual exploitation, violence ... the dystopian reality that is increasingly a feature of modern life is a direct consequence of our choices, fuelled by our indiscriminate slaughter of the unborn.
Ideally, on this 55th anniversary of the passing of the Abortion Act, society as a whole would recognise the catastrophic direction it took in passing this legislation and demand reform. Yet whether that happens or not, men and women should exercise their right to free speech and speak out against this cruel and indiscriminate slaughter of the unborn. Only then can we hope to escape judgment. Only then can we expect God's help.
Rev Lynda Rose is founder of Voice for Justice UK, a group which works to uphold the moral values of the Bible in society.
