Abortion matters

The issue of abortion will always be close to the hearts of us as evangelical Christians – and many others of course too.

How can it not be? The slaughter of so many millions of unborn children in the West in the last few decades is one of the great blind spots of our decaying culture. (Of course, there are always situations – for example rape, incest and imminent danger to a mother’s life – where we cannot be so black and white, but they should not distract us from the wider tragedy where no such contingencies apply.)

The selection of Tim Walz as a vice-presidential candidate in the US will rightly cause particular concern. According to the reputable news agency AP, as governor of Minnesota, Walz ‘codified’ abortion rights, ‘repealing essentially all the state’s restrictions,’ [our italics]. AP also reported that this left the state, according to pro-life campaigners, with ‘essentially no restrictions on abortion at any stage of pregnancy’. Furthermore, proposed amendments ‘including prohibitions on third-trimester abortions except to save the patient’s life,’ were rejected. Rightly this causes revulsion.

Closer to home, a difficult situation between the Keswick Convention and pro-life campaigners in the town, reported here, seems to have been caused, at least in part, by misreporting on social media of what was going on. We hope and trust future conversations can take things forward positively in a way that guards against any perceptions of disharmony among Christians in this way.

The Didache, a Christian teaching document written in about 70AD, says: ‘You shall not kill by abortion the fruit of the womb and you shall not murder the infant already born [infanticide].’ Let us continue to proclaim this with clarity, grace and winsomeness.