In the face of tragedy, we have two options.

We can decide that God is not who he says he is. We can let our questions keep us from experiencing his transforming love and sustaining grace. We can trust our doubts more than we trust our Creator.

Or we can decide to have faith in our Father even when we don’t understand him. The harder it is to trust God, the more we need to trust God.

Today’s secular worldview is cohesive and consistent only in that it views life through the prism of the self. Our ultimate value is whatever makes us happy. Dwelling on the sufferings of others doesn’t seem to help them and only saddens us. This era of constant access to the world has actually accomplished the opposite—it’s made us less attentive to the world. If the news doesn’t make us happy, we turn it off.

By contrast, one way the Christian worldview is cohesive and consistent is that it views life through the prism of the other. We’re taught to “bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2). Loving God and loving our neighbor are intertwined (Matthew 22:37–39). Jesus identifies himself with those in need: what we do for them, we do for him (Matthew 25:40).

If we value people in pain as Jesus does, we can never be callous to their suffering. Every victim of violence—and every perpetrator—is someone for whom Jesus died (Romans 5:8). The answer to compassion fatigue is not less compassion—it’s the power of the Spirit. The first “fruit of the Spirit” is “love” (Galatians 5:22). The ability to care for those in crisis comes ultimately from Christ.  (Denison)

In John 11 Jesus arrived at Bethany after Lazarus had died.  Martha and Mary both approached Jesus with exactly the same words, “If you had been here my brother would not have died.”  Jesus did not reply with identical statements. He gave Martha practical hope, but Mary emotional empathy. Jesus knew the people he was caring for and treated them as individuals.

It would be profoundly ineffective to admonish the fainthearted, help the idle, or to encourage the weak.  The fainthearted need care not rebuke. The idle need a change of perspective, not help to carry on as they are.  The weak need practical help, not words.

Lent is a forty-day journey from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday. It is time of preparation, repentance, and surrender to God. The Cross of Christ is the central focus and strengthening hope of this journey. It is the nexus of God’s grace and justice. Once for all time and One man for all people, Jesus freely gave his life to atone for sin, reconcile broken relationship, and demonstrate the great love of God. The cross is the place where wounds are healed, freedom is found, and new beginnings start.

We support the many midwives who oppose Diana Johnson MP’s Ten Minute Rule Bill seeking to introduce abortion on demand, up-to-birth, for any reason, on Monday 13th March 2017.

The “decriminalisation” of abortion means the total removal of all legal restrictions on abortion. There would be no grounds on which abortion could not take place and no ‘upper’ gestational time limit.

This point has been acknowledged by abortion provider BPAS, the backers of this Bill, who’s CEO, Anne Furedi, at the launch of their campaign for decriminalisation stated “I want to be very, very clear and blunt… there should be no legal upper limit.”

I oppose Diana Johnson MP’s Bill for the following reasons:

• This is an extreme and radical legislative proposal.

  • The Bill in its construction and consequences is more extreme than any abortion Bill previously raised in British history, as it would allow for abortion on any grounds at any time throughout pregnancy.

• The proposal is out of touch with the views of the British people.

  • One YouGov poll showed that 88% of women in the UK either want to keep the current law and time limit as it is, or restrict it further. This contrasts with the 2% of women who wanted to see an increase in the abortion time limit beyond 24 weeks, let alone birth.

  • Last year, the Royal College of Midwives’ support for BPAS’ abortion-up-to-birth campaign saw a serious backlash from over 1,000 midwives who protested against the RCM’s position.

• The situation would allow for far greater abuses than have already occurred under the current law.

  • Already within our current legal framework we have seen doctors pre-signing abortion forms, gender-selective abortions being offered, live babies being left to die following abortions that have gone wrong and children with minor disabilities, such as cleft palate, being aborted. In this context, where the current law is supposed to be preventing such appalling practices, the thought of allowing abortion on demand up to birth is seriously worrying.

• The abortion industry have proven that they cannot be trusted.

• • In 2015, 98% of abortions were funded by the NHS. Of these, over two thirds (68%) took place in private abortion clinics (e.g. Marie Stopes International and BPAS clinics) under NHS contract.

  • In August 2016, however, the Care Quality Commission had to step in to protect patients from potential harm at Marie Stopes abortion clinics. The December 2016 report showed doctors had been bulk-signing abortion consent forms, babies remains had been left in open bins, women were left at risk of infection, staff were not trained in how to respond to deteriorating patients and post-surgery safety checks were being completed before the surgery started. If these kind of breaches in patient safety protocols were occurring under the current law and close inspection of clinics, what will happen when all legal restrictions are lifted from abortion practice?

The British public prides itself in being a reasonable, humane and tolerant society. Such an extreme and radical proposal has no place in the UK.