Church calls for toughening of abortion legislation with present laws ‘outdated’
The Catholic Church has this week called for more restrictive abortion laws in the UK. Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Conner, who met privately with Secretary of State for Health Patricia Hewitt last Wednesday, claims that the current 24-week time limit on abortions is “outdated” in light of advances in neonatal technology.
Abortion has recently returned to the political agenda due to the debate surrounding lowering the time limit to 20 or 22 weeks. Technological and medical advances allowing babies born before 24 weeks to be kept alive, though often with significant handicaps, has led to widespread calls for a review in abortion legislation.
A commons motion demanding a review of the 1967 Abortion Act, which was last updated in 1990, to reduce the time limit from 28 to 24 weeks, has been signed by 31 MPs, while both Michael Howard and Liam Fox have made their views on the issue known.
Cardinal Murphy O’Conner, the head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, has claimed that public opinion on the subject is changing due to images such as those of foetuses “walking in the womb,” published in 2004. He is supported by a poll conducted by The Observer earlier this year showing that 47% of women agree with the tightening of abortion laws.
However, groups opposing a change in the law have pointed to the very small number of abortions, only 1.6%, that currently take place after the 20 week period. Marie Stopes International (MSI), a charity that provide abortions outside of the NHS, have argued that women seeking late abortions do so for reasons including poor accessibility and long waiting periods for facilities.
The group has criticised participants in the current debate regarding abortion law for failing to take into account the individual experiences of women and their reasons for undergoing abortions, instead focusing exclusively on the scientific viability.
MSI found in a study of women attending their London clinics for late abortions that the majority were against a reduction of the time limit, with many saying that they would have suffered considerable emotional distress had an abortion not been available.
The Department of Health has stated that it is not planning a change in abortion law. A vote at the British Medical Association conference last year also resulted in 77% of members rejecting a lowering of the current time limit.
Cardinal Murphy O’Conner last year likened abortion to Nazism, saying, “what else is the termination of six million lives in the womb since the Abortion Act was introduced?” and claiming that abortion will lead to the rise of eugenics.
