Repeat abortion statistics

Abortion trauma

Young woman with cancer who gave birth despite warnings from her doctor

A huge pro-life rally involving 10,000 participants including Tibetan monks in Rome last weekend had a very prestigious leader in Gianni Alemanno, the courageous Mayor of the City, who proudly displaying his official red, white and green sash, publicly declared ‘Our message is that no family or woman must be compelled to give up a child.’ 

How surprising that under the presidency of Barack Obama, noted supporter of abortion, there should be such positive acknowledgment of the humanity of the unborn child.
 

This is a terrible story and when linked to the history of forced abortions under the Chinese aggressive one-child policy, we are rightly aghast at such unethical behaviour. 

But how clear is our conscience?  What exactly do we know about the disposal or use of fetal tissue after induced abortion in the UK? It is hopefully not being used for cosmetic purposes, but is nevertheless finding its way legally from the abortion clinic to the research laboratory.

Such research is ‘regulated’ using the Human Tissue Act, although not very adequately it would appear if we read the statement of Anne Milton, Under-secretary of State for Health, in Hansard (26 July 2010 : Column 828W):

'The Human Tissue Act 2004 requires that the storage of human tissue for research, and other "scheduled purposes" is licensed. The regulator responsible for licensing is the Human Tissue Authority (HTA). However, the HTA does not have a category of "fetal tissue bank" and so could not give reliable figures for fetal tissue banks in operation. It has published a series of Codes of Practice on key activities involving human tissue, including consent (Code of Practice 1) and research (Code of Practice 9).'

Our horror is of course justifiable, and we hope this appalling trade will be stopped. 

But no matter what happens to the remains of aborted babies, it will never be as horrifying as what happens to them when they are living in the womb. Abortion as we know always ends their tiny lives.

What we have seen, however, from a US Government hugely in favour of population control, is an extremely embarrassing situation for prominent US politicians such as Hilary Clinton and even President Obama himself, whose support for abortion is no secret.    

Attorney Chen Guang Cheng had been captive in his own home after spending years in prison for his outspoken opposition to forced abortion and sterilisation in his country, but he has continued to monitor and expose to the world the brutal campaigns and victimization of thousands of Chinese citizens to further the Government's anti-life ideology.

The victimisation of Chen Guang Cheng, and his extraordinary heroism,  has placed not just the likes of Hilary Clinton in an embarrassing spotlight, but also many of our own UK journalists (even newspapers!) who are so idealistically committed to so-called abortion rights.  And Marie Stopes International?  It would be interesting to hear from them and their funders, who include the UK Government.

Even Amnesty International, fighting abuse of  human rights on the world stage , has completely glossed over the pro-life background of Chen Guang Cheng.

The ProLife Alliance, when alerted to the boycott, raised similar concerns in correspondence with Pepsi UK & Ireland. 

“We took the matter very seriously,” stated Mr. Boykas, Director Pepsi’s Global Public Policy Unit. “We have an official Statement on Responsible Research and we intend to live by that policy.”'

We congratulate our American colleagues for their hard word and Pepsi for delivering this ethical change of direction.   Consumer power is clearly a force to be reckoned with.

The issue of poor quality of life is often cited in the debate over abortion for disability and assisted dying.  Here is a young woman who is living proof of the importance of  positive support, both from her parents and from technology.

Well done to Joanne.  Last December  she persuaded the Irish Parliament to reverse a decision to reduce disability support for teenagers, now she is taking on the United Nations.  Her personal motto is ‘no limbs, no limit’.  We believe her.

Today several papers reported that BBC Five Live is to interview women and staff in an unnamed abortion clinic next month as part of a two hour programme.  The ultimate taboo in relationship to abortion is not the counselling process with the woman, but the tragic reality of what happens to the unborn child. 

This latest initiative from the abortion lobby will inevitably provide free advertising for the organisation in question which surely cannot qualify as an exercise in objective journalism.