James Somerville-Meikle, Deputy Director of the Catholic Union, writes:
In a House of Lords debate in April last year, Crossbench peer Lord Alton warned of the “deeply distressing and traumatic effect” of late-term home abortions. His concerns, and those of other parliamentarians, about the risk of abortions using ‘pills through the post’ were painfully realised in the case of baby Lily, who was aborted at home eight months into pregnancy. While the case which concluded at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court this week related to events at the beginning of 2020, it confirmed many of the fears expressed about new legislation which permanently removes the need for face-to-face appointments for abortion. This was a change in the law which groups like BPAS lobbied for, yet it was the lack of face-to-face appointments during Covid that allowed the tragic case of baby Lily to happen. Rather than express any contrition or humility, BPAS has gone on the offensive. They have called for further deregulation or “decriminalisation” of abortion in response to the custodial sentence given to Lily’s mother, making cases like hers more likely in future. Sadly it seems the abortion lobby is willing to play political football with women’s health. As Catholics, we’re called to act with compassion and understanding. That must surely mean focusing on preventing what happened to baby Lily and her mother from happening again.