In our desire to be as God and to be in control – modern society calls it autonomy and freedom – we want to be able to determine which of our children we should let live and, with the push towards assisted suicide, when we or our parents can die. And it won’t end there. The right to die will become the duty to die. The right to abort can easily become the duty to abort – I have personally known people who were put under enormous pressure to abort their child because it would be ‘the right thing to do’.

The Secular Sacrament of Abortion

I had the badge. You know, the one for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. I was a committed member of the anti-nuclear movement and proudly wore my badge. Sometimes I wore it to political meetings where it served as a reminder that I was ‘on the right side of history’ and suitably ‘progressive/socialist’. I haven’t seen that badge, except on old hippie vans, for many years. As an issue it doesn’t even register in our elections. But there is another symbol, another cause which if you don’t support you are clearly beyond the pale. What is it? Let’s start our story in my own turf of Australia.

Queensland

A strange thing happened in the State of Queensland in the past month. The ruling Labor party seemed on course for a crushing defeat in the State elections, when the Premier Stephen Miles decided to make abortion an issue. Taking a leaf out of the Kamala Harris playbook he suddenly started arguing that ‘women’s reproductive health rights were at stake’. Although the opposition Liberal party had no proposals for changing the current law, even the suggestion of a threat was considered to be a vote winner. It may have been, but the Labor party still lost, and the new Liberal State government has just been sworn in.

The USA

Meanwhile in the US Kamala Harris, facing a downturn in polls (although they are so close that it is anyone’s guess who is really ahead) decided to play again what she considers to be her winning ticket – abortion. Together with Michelle Obama and Beyoncé, she has upped the rhetoric claiming that any restrictions on abortion are a ‘healthcare crisis’ and that, what she incorrectly calls ‘Trump’s abortion ban’ is killing women. Apart from the fact that she conveniently ignores the fact that more than 20 women have died because of the abortion pill, she also makes numerous false claims that need fact checked – see my earlier article on this.

Scotland

Meanwhile the Scottish government, which is also struggling, agrees that abortion is a vote winner. Last month new legislation was enacted which prevents any kind of protest, prayer or even presence within a 200m ‘excluded’ zone outside an abortion clinic (a similar law exists in England). Such is the zeal with which this order is being enforced that The Daily Telegraph reported it could be a crime to pray in your own home.

A letter was sent to residents within an Edinburgh exclusion area warning them that while the offences in general only applied in public places, “however activities in a private place (such as a house) within the area between the protected premises and the boundary of a zone could be an offence if they can be seen or heard within the zone and are done intentionally or recklessly.” The letter warned that regulation breakers could be fined up to £10,000. Religious preaching, prayer or silent vigils could be subject to prosecution if they are done with “intent or recklessness”.

As a preacher I have no idea how to preach without intent! And I fear that much of my preaching might be called “reckless”. After all, were not the early Christian preachers accused of ‘turning the world upside down’ (Acts 17:6) because they dared to speak words which were not acceptable to the authorities of the day?

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