Why not?
Dear Friends,
This week has brought the revelation that there seem to be some doctors at abortion clinics in this country who are willing to conduct abortions purely on the grounds of the gender of the baby. There has, quite rightly, been outrage that anyone would do what is both immoral and illegal.
But one is tempted to ask, why are people so outraged? In practice, abortion is already allowed when the mental suffering of the mother will be unbearable if she keeps the baby, or if the baby itself will be severely disabled. And it turns out that abortion is very easy to obtain on these grounds. It is not hard to imagine a case being made that to have a baby of a particular gender will cause unbearable mental suffering, or even that the life of that child will be intolerable.
And why are people content to allow the abortion of a disabled child with the ‘wrong’ level of physical and mental ability, but not that of a child with the ‘wrong’ gender? Who decides? Once again we see what a mess we get into when we try to make rules for ourselves, but without reference to God. The strange thing is that, despite our best efforts, we cannot entirely shake off the idea that our lives are not our own, and that we owe something to our maker. People may want to give God up, but he’s not so easy to get rid of.
Chris Hobbs,
Vicar.