I rarely dive into politics here, but…
Ok, with that title I refer to home politics – get me started on Iraq or Bush and I could talk to the cows come home but I’m referring to a bill going through our Houses of Parliament at the moment.
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The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill (HFE) Bill is currently in the House of Lords and heading for the Commons. I hadn’t really heard about it until Wednesday night. One aspect of CU life is that there are many, many medical students and many of them are part of an organisation called CMF – the Christian Medical Fellowship. They were away on a CMF weekend and heard about this bill and have since told the CU.
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The HFE bill has a couple of main components.
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One is to combine animal and human genetic material in every cell in order to generate embryonic stem cells for research. This research could already be deemed obsolete because scientists have found a way to reprogram adult skin cells to produce cells with all the potential of human embryonic stem cells.
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A second part of the bill focuses on IVF – and furthers the idea of picking what you want in a child, potentially so that child can act as a donor for their sibling. The idea of IVF also removes the need for a father – which contradicts biblical ideas behind families; although I am well aware that many families do not have a father due to many other circumstances such as divorce, death, abandonment etc.
.
And other aspects of the bill point to a liberalisation of the abortion laws. No longer will two doctors need to sign before an abortion can take place – and in some places even a nurse (clarification: my use of “even” is not saying nurses are not as good as doctors!) could lead the abortion in the first trimester, with the abortion being completed at home. This could prevent prolife doctors from seeing women with unplanned pregnancies.
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The key aspect of this final bit is that the act will be extended to Northern Ireland – where currently only 70-80 abortions take place a year, where abortion is opposed by all major parties and in October 2007 a motion was passed with a large majority opposing making abortion more widely available in NI.
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Apparently (going on what the attendees of the CMF weekend said) the way they have put the bill in means much of the voting that will happen will be in a political vote (or something), with maybe only one part being a conscience vote for the MPs. This will mean much more pressure can be put on MPs.
.
I am pro-life – I believe that God uniquely and lovingly created each one of us (see Psalm 139!). And only He should decide when life ends. And I don’t believe unexpected pregnancies should be so “easy” (I know many women who go through this would say it’s anything but easy – perhaps available is a much better word).
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I don’t think the so-called “pro choice” are all that “pro choice”. So often when feminists/pro choice people say they only present one of the many options. Pro-choice seems to equate with pro-abortion – rather than pro-adoption, pro-fostering etc etc.
.
It’s like the feminists who argue that their choice to work and put their children in daycare is their choice - it’s their right to make that choice and it should be respected. And yet they can sometimes so vehemently look down on those who make the choice to stay at home and raise their children.
.
It’s almost like those who violently argue there is no absolute truth and yet they’ve just proclaimed one so loudly.
.
So, what can we do about this bill?
.
Unfortunately, it seems this bill may pass through quite easily – especially without the conscience vote on much of it. So – pray!
.
You can also write to your MP, and you can find out who they are at www.writetothem.com.
.
I know, ultimately, if the bill doesn’t go through it won’t change the root of the problem – a society in which the sanctity of life is so often discarded and where pre-marital sex is common. And we do need to comfort the girls and women who have went through with abortions and regret it. But we can stop the killing of these kids easier, especially in Northern Ireland.
.
For more information: http://www.cmf.org.uk/index/hfe_bill.htm
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PS - something wrong with formatting options - will fix later!
.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill (HFE) Bill is currently in the House of Lords and heading for the Commons. I hadn’t really heard about it until Wednesday night. One aspect of CU life is that there are many, many medical students and many of them are part of an organisation called CMF – the Christian Medical Fellowship. They were away on a CMF weekend and heard about this bill and have since told the CU.
.
The HFE bill has a couple of main components.
.
One is to combine animal and human genetic material in every cell in order to generate embryonic stem cells for research. This research could already be deemed obsolete because scientists have found a way to reprogram adult skin cells to produce cells with all the potential of human embryonic stem cells.
.
A second part of the bill focuses on IVF – and furthers the idea of picking what you want in a child, potentially so that child can act as a donor for their sibling. The idea of IVF also removes the need for a father – which contradicts biblical ideas behind families; although I am well aware that many families do not have a father due to many other circumstances such as divorce, death, abandonment etc.
.
And other aspects of the bill point to a liberalisation of the abortion laws. No longer will two doctors need to sign before an abortion can take place – and in some places even a nurse (clarification: my use of “even” is not saying nurses are not as good as doctors!) could lead the abortion in the first trimester, with the abortion being completed at home. This could prevent prolife doctors from seeing women with unplanned pregnancies.
.
The key aspect of this final bit is that the act will be extended to Northern Ireland – where currently only 70-80 abortions take place a year, where abortion is opposed by all major parties and in October 2007 a motion was passed with a large majority opposing making abortion more widely available in NI.
.
Apparently (going on what the attendees of the CMF weekend said) the way they have put the bill in means much of the voting that will happen will be in a political vote (or something), with maybe only one part being a conscience vote for the MPs. This will mean much more pressure can be put on MPs.
.
I am pro-life – I believe that God uniquely and lovingly created each one of us (see Psalm 139!). And only He should decide when life ends. And I don’t believe unexpected pregnancies should be so “easy” (I know many women who go through this would say it’s anything but easy – perhaps available is a much better word).
.
I don’t think the so-called “pro choice” are all that “pro choice”. So often when feminists/pro choice people say they only present one of the many options. Pro-choice seems to equate with pro-abortion – rather than pro-adoption, pro-fostering etc etc.
.
It’s like the feminists who argue that their choice to work and put their children in daycare is their choice - it’s their right to make that choice and it should be respected. And yet they can sometimes so vehemently look down on those who make the choice to stay at home and raise their children.
.
It’s almost like those who violently argue there is no absolute truth and yet they’ve just proclaimed one so loudly.
.
So, what can we do about this bill?
.
Unfortunately, it seems this bill may pass through quite easily – especially without the conscience vote on much of it. So – pray!
.
You can also write to your MP, and you can find out who they are at www.writetothem.com.
.
I know, ultimately, if the bill doesn’t go through it won’t change the root of the problem – a society in which the sanctity of life is so often discarded and where pre-marital sex is common. And we do need to comfort the girls and women who have went through with abortions and regret it. But we can stop the killing of these kids easier, especially in Northern Ireland.
.
For more information: http://www.cmf.org.uk/index/hfe_bill.htm
.
PS - something wrong with formatting options - will fix later!
Labels: activism, do something, faith, feminism, politics
posted by Rach @ 3:45 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Abortion is illegal in the Rep of Ireland so women travel to the UK to have an abortion. I'm pro-life but I can see why some women choose to terminate (how do you spell that word?) a pregnancy. I can only imagine that giving up a child for adoption must be the hardest thing to. One criticsm (spelling?) I've heard of pro-lifers, is that they focus so much on stopping abortions. And once that is done they don't continue to support the women. It's after deciding to keep the child to either rear yourself or to give up for adoption is the hard part. They could be facing stigma, have to give up work, face medical appointments alone etc etc etc And I can't even begin to imagine what it'd be like to be raped and find out that you're pregnant as a result. Perhaps if there were more support for women with an unplanned pregnancy there would be less abortions? In Ireland there are 10,000 unplanned pregnancies a year, that is a lot. I think it is time that those of us who are pro life actually live up to that, and not only support the life of the unborn child but of also the mother and help her in any way that we can.
Absolutely Aoife! We need to support the women.
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