Learn - LAMENT - Lead
As a reminder, two recent bills passed in the House of Commons have given us cause to learn both what the Bible has to say and what the potential laws actually state and might lead to with regards to abortion and assisted suicide/dying. You can catch up on my first two articles here:
‘For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.’ So writes Solomon in Ecclesiastes 3:1. Right now it is ‘a time to weep’ and ‘a time to mourn’ (v4). As we were reminded at our recent weekend away as a church, the book of Lamentations is another part of scripture that gives voice to our grief, our questions and the darkness of human suffering. Although there is much to be hopeful about and to lead into, that is for the final part in this series. Right now, is a time to lament.
A time to lament the ever increasing number of abortions in the UK, up from under 200,000 in 2014 to likely to approach 300,000 in 2024. Over 10 million babies have been aborted in the UK alone since the passing of the 1967 abortion act. In 2022 there was a 17% rise in abortions from 214,869 in 2021 to 251,377.
A time to lament what will surely be an increase in that number now that abortion after 24 weeks is no longer illegal and the pills by post scheme continues (supposedly brought in only for the pandemic).
A time to lament the plight of vulnerable women who will be forced into unsafe abortions at home (it is still illegal for a medical practitioner to carry out an abortion after 24 weeks) and could be coerced by parters into having abortion that is no longer illegal.
A time to lament our politicians’ preference for ending the lives of the sick and suffering rather than investing in palliative care and mental health resources.
A time to lament the pressure that could well be applied to disabled, elderly, vulnerable and terminally ill people to end their lives.
Both bills have been debated recently in the House of Lords, where of course they need to pass this second reading in order to become law. It has been very encouraging to see many peers speaking out against the bills and some tabling amendments. As both a source of lament and hope I commend these two speeches to you Lord David Alton regarding assisted dying and Baroness Monkton on abortion.
Dear Lord, we come to you with our questions and our sadness and our fear. We grieve for the innocent victims of a worldwide disregard for human life, not least the unborn children aborted in this country and this year alone. We grieve the folly of our lawmakers who in the name of compassion are driving more women to have unsafe, medically unsupervised abortions and ending the lives of more children.
We grieve for women facing unwanted pregnancies, poverty and uncertainty. We lament a world in which pain and suffering seems so rife and sin so prevalent. Teach us to hear the cries of both desperate mothers and unborn children and not to shield our ears.
Father of mercy and of justice, we lament the reality of vulnerable people who are being implicity or explicitly encouraged to consider suicide as a way out of their pain. We stand with people for whom fear of the future and of pain is so prevalent. We are fearful as to the distinct possibility of even narrowly defined laws slowly expanding to offer death to ever increasing numbers and types of people, as has happened in Canada, Oregon USA, Belgium and the Netherlands.
We ask that the reality of a God in Jesus who suffers with us and who is victorious over death for us would triumph. Teach us to honour and uphold those who work with the terminally ill and to be a church and a nation who support and resource them.