The bad news and the good news

Mr Lansley discovers some appalling facts

Today in the news we read that abortion clinics have undergone unannounced spot checks by order of Andrew Lansley, the Health Secretary; out of a sample of 250 clinics, about 20% were found to be "non-compliant" with legal regulations.  Following the Telegraph's revelations earlier this month about clinics which agree to perform gender-selective abortions, it now emerges that some clinics are allowing doctors to pre-sign abortion certificates without knowing anything about the women concerned.  Whilst there is no obligation for the doctors to have personally seen a particular patient, it is illegal for them to sign forms authorising abortion without having read and assessed the patient's clinical case notes taken by a medical colleague.  You can read the story here and here.

We should not be surprised that this sort of practice is taking place.  It is merely confirmation that abortion on demand is, in reality, the situation we now have in the UK, arising from the pro-abortion lobby's largely successful attempts to convince women that they have a "right" to abortion.  Mr Lansley himself sums the situation up pretty well.  To quote from the Telegraph article:

"[Mr Lansley] said yesterday that the regulator had found that a number of clinics may be acting beyond the 'spirit and letter of the law'. 

" 'I was appalled,' he said. 'Because if it happens, it is pretty much people engaging in a culture of both ignoring the law and trying to give themselves the right to say that although Parliament may have said this, we believe in abortion on demand.'

"He said it was not just a matter of enforcing the law. 'There is the risk that women don’t get the appropriate level of pre-abortion support and counselling because, if your attitude is that, "You’ve arrived for an abortion and you should have one," well actually many women don’t get the degree of support they should,' said Mr Lansley."

And yet this type of clinic may shortly be advertising itself on TV with no obligation to mention that it has a financial interest in offering abortions...?  With reference to our earlier post on the topic, is this really "safe" for women and their babies?

This is all a prime example of our society's muddled thinking when it comes to life issues.  Whether through misguided compassion or just not wanting to see a truth that is hard or inconvenient, we have allowed ourselves to fall into all sorts of illogicalities with regard to the issue of abortion.  The BBC news website quotes the Health Secretary as saying, "Abortion shouldn't be undertaken lightly and the right checks and balances should be in place."  Does he ask himself why it shouldn’t be undertaken lightly?  Because either the foetus is not a human being/is part of the woman’s body and therefore she has a right to choose whether it stays there/abortion has no negative psychological effects, or the opposite things are true... there isn’t really some sort of indeterminate middle ground.

And yet... we can find hope in these revelations, because at least the truth of what is happening in many abortion clinics is finally surfacing and perhaps prompting some to think the issues through again.  Grumpy old woman that I am, I would never have thought of looking at it that way, and therefore am very grateful to a wise priest of our diocese who remarked earlier today, "It would be easy to despair as we read more and more about the issues but I believe that the Holy Spirit is fighting back by making these abhorrent practices more public. By bringing them into the 'daylight' the beginning of a cleansing is happening. No more is it being performed 'in the dark,' where the devil lives, but, increasingly, in the light where Christ's redemptive power is seen to be at work so visibly."

He added, "I am sure the devil will want to stop these articles 'asap' so it is up to us to keep them in the public forum."  It may not be New Year but I think that would be a pretty good resolution to make anyway, right here and now.  So help us God.