The Abortion Act was passed in the UK on Oct 27th 1967. Every year since then without exception, the abortion figures have increased. 2021 was no different with the highest ever number of abortions in this country. The culmination of this is that 10 million children have been legally aborted in Great Britain.
Yesterday, March for Life UK were joined by representatives from the Catholic, Anglican and Evangelical churches as well as political representatives and leaders of prolife organisations to bear witness to these lives lost. Many supporters gathered together at Parliament Square in Westminster to ensure the 55thanniversary of this tragic Act didn’t pass by unmarked. Those witnessing there dressed in black and held posters saying ’10 Million Too Many’ to commemorate the ten million lives prematurely ended as well as all those affected by this.
Here’s what those attending said:
Bishop John Sherrington, Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster and President of the Diocesan Commission for Marriage and Family Life:
‘We’re here marking the loss of the children who have died. We’re marking the loss for the women, many of whom carry trauma or pain because of their abortion. My message today as we grieve is to say “Choose life and let’s change hearts and minds”. It’s not just hearts and minds that need changing though, we also need better legal protection for women and their unborn children.’
Fiona Bruce MP:
‘As I walked across from Parliament under Big Ben here and the sun was shining I thought how tragic it is that all those young lives will never see this sunshine and we’ll never know the flourishing of their lives and the contributions that they would have made to society and our world. We have some of the gravest abortion laws in Europe – a baby can be aborted up till birth because they have a cleft palate or club foot. One of my sons was born with a club foot yet if you looked at my son, Sam, now you would never even know. In recent years though over 200 babies have been aborted simply because of this condition.’
Calvin Robinson, political commentator, journalist and clergyman of the Church of England:
‘There’s nothing more important in this world than life. The sanctity of life is worth fighting for, it’s worth dying for. Right now too many people are choosing the wrong option, they think it’s the only option they have. We have to tell them no, there are always other solutions to the problem. Abortion is never the solution, it’s ending a family, it’s killing an unborn child and I’m here to join these people in giving that unborn child a voice.’
Clare McCullough Founder and Director of The Good Counsel Network:
‘Buffer zones limit how near we can go to abortion centres to offer help. This means that hundreds of women who have been able to approach us for help, the most vulnerable of women, are now going to be blocked from finding the help they need, so it is women who will suffer. We can’t beat this just by clever ideas alone, we need a lot of prayer and fasting to overcome this particular demon.’
Alithea Williams, Public Policy Manager at SPUC:
‘It’s important to be in this place, in Parliament, where the legislation went through and to make a witness to the people who run this country that 10 million lives lost is too many and it needs to stop. Not only have 10 million babies lost their lives to abortion but now MPs want to make it illegal for people to even offer help to women as they enter these clinics. They want to make it illegal to even express an opinion about abortion within 150 metres of an abortion clinic. It’s a worrying sign that the prolife voice is being censored and we need to push back against this.
Andrea Williams CEO of Christian Concern:
It’s my great privilege to be with all these people who have gathered here. We could be extremely sad on this day because it’s a day that marks 10 million lives that have not got to have their first breath and that is catastrophic but there’s also a sense of hope and the hope is this, the hope is here, there’s a movement growing that’s vibrant, that’s real, that is justice centred and says 10 million is too many and they will not be silenced. We will never give up and will speak on this as long as we have breath
Lynda Rose CEO of Voice for Justice:
‘There are strong spiritual consequences to abortion – we are putting ourselves at odds with God. This isn’t said to condemn people who’ve had an abortion, God loves them without reservation but for all of us there’s no healing if we don’t acknowledge where we’ve gone wrong.’
Rachel Mackenzie Director of Rachel’s Vineyard in the Midlands:
To those who’ve had an abortion I’d say that I know how you feel. I’ve had two abortions so I’m not coming from a place of judgement – I know what your wound is and I know why you’re hurting but the truth is there’s hope and you can get better from this wound. I had abortions because I didn’t want to be a mother but I realised far too late that abortion doesn’t solve that problem it just makes you a mother to dead children. So what I say to women who are pregnant is you already are a mother and you can do this. There is support and you’re not alone.
Dr Sharon James Social Policy Analyst at the Christian Institute:
We are seeing a culture of death advancing. Every abortion represents a mother’s life betrayed. Betrayed by a false promise. We lament the 10 million lives lost but we also pay tribute to those many, many people who give sacrificially their time and their resources to stand for a culture of life and against a culture of death. Those who provide real choice for women and for those counselling services who have helped those post-abortion to recover and find meaning, hope and forgiveness. We are here today to recommit to praying and working for the day when abortion becomes totally and utterly unthinkable, remembered only as a relic of a barbaric past.
David Kurten leader of the Heritage Party:
‘That 10 million unborn children have been killed since the passing of the Abortion Act – this is a horror. Last week we had the Public Order Act passed in the house of Commons impinging on free speech outside abortion centres and even criminalises prayer for unborn children or preventing people offering help to their mothers. We need to stop this horror from happening in our country.
Robert Colquhoun, International Director of 40 Days for Life:
‘Just days ago a vote by the House of Commons passed buffer zones which would affect not just freedom of speech but also freedom of thought. This draconian law is more like something out of China but with God all things are possible including the ending of abortion.’
Christian Hacking Public Engagement Officer at CBRUK:
‘We’re here to draw attention to the most devastating Act of law the UK has ever known, which has snowballed into a full-blown genocide. This is like the whole population of London missing and has not gone unnoticed in God’s eyes.’
Dr Dermot Kearney, former president of the CMA and prescriber of Abortion Reversal Pill:
‘With progesterone treatment (abortion reversal/rescue treatment) we can more than double the survival rate for babies in these situations where a mother chooses to save her baby after taking the first set of abortion pills. In this country to date, myself and another doctor, have manage to save 37 babies who’ve been born and more on the way from mothers who sought help after taking the first set of pills.’
Caroline Farrow CitizenGO campaign Director:
‘Public opinion is beginning to ask questions, is beginning to be on the side of those who want to raise our voices. Whereas parliament is 4 or 5 years behind wanting to shut us down. Parliament is out of step with public opinion.’
Isabel Vaughan-Spruce Co-director of March for Life UK:
‘The damage that abortion inflicts on women alone is enough to make me prolife. Last year around 88% of abortions were medical abortions and 1 in every 17 of those women having a medical abortion ended up in hospital with complications. This is being peddled as healthcare but if we really cared about women’s health abortion would be made illegal tomorrow.’
To those of you who joined us via our livestream – thank you for remembering this day and a particular thanks to those who travelled so as to stand alongside us in Parliament Square. Let’s keep working together to highlight the damage abortion causes to women and men and to provide better options for those struggling during pregnancy as well as exposing the barbaric practice of abortion for what it really is.
