I guess that most of us who followed the media coverage weren't really surprised at the outcome of the Irish vote that gives their government the opportunity to legalise abortion in the Republic. Even those of us who would have campaigned strongly the other way can't deny that it was a democratic vote and that the will of a large majority was very clear. In the case of rape and some other extreme situations I, for one,would certainly see the need for a pastoral and compassionate approach that could mean that there may sometimes need to be exceptions on the issue of abortion. But that is a debate for another time.
The real shock of the Irish vote was the nature of the celebration following the announcement of the result. TV cameras recorded jubilation, happy shouts, applause and cries of 'Yes', 'Yes' in a way that looked like a football crowd celebrating a great team victory. For those who were genuinely delighted with the result was this not a time to reflect with some awe on the momentous decision that had been taken? They had just voted and succeeded in convincing their government to allow the taking away of the lives of babies who in many cases would be born healthy.
The stark truth is this, that if you are pro-life almost always the mother lives and the baby lives. If you are pro-choice the mother lives and the baby definitely dies. Those making the case for abortion commonly stress the rights of the mother which inevitably means that the woman's rights trump the rights of the baby, but it's really a much more fundamental issue than that; the strong exert their will, and the weak are unable to make their voice heard. The strong crush the powerless.
Because access to abortion has been with us now for so many years in most of the UK it becomes impossible to live all the time conscious of the distress that I, for one, personally feel. I bury my feelings. I have no desire whatsoever to oppose women's rights, oppress women, domineer over women or whatever the view may be of those who support a pro-life position. But everyday living babies growing in a womb are summarily put to death as a matter of choice made by the strong over the weak. I think of grandchildren whom I dearly love, some of whom would not now be alive if their mothers had decided that two children is as many as they wanted, and could have any others aborted. Can human life really be regarded so cheaply that we discard it like so much rubbish? I feel the horror of it and nothing can persuade me that it is wrong to feel it.
I sometimes hear a harrowing story of a woman who tells of the suffering and sacrifice brought about by her inability to have an abortion. But stories can always be traded and I hear accounts too of the suffering and guilt carried by women who agreed to an abortion and even occasionally the story of a life that in some extraordinary way escaped or even survived an abortion. The matter cannot be settled by a catalogue of stories, for both sides have them.
Yes, I have a Christian worldview that helps me see the significance of all human life, but if one third of voters in Ireland did not want to see legislation in favour of abortion then many with no Christian faith must also have voted that way. Leaving all faith considerations aside, can we really make ourselves responsible for choosing life or death for so many babies?
My view is not the majority view and many will criticise and even scorn it or speak of my need to come up to date or join the 21st century. But with every childbirth there comes pain and with every child there is a parent or parents who have to make sacrifices for the good of that child. That's the world we live in, it's what helps to perpetuate the human race. To have legalised abortion makes us all poorer for we move against ourselves, as those who carry a living being are persuaded, or choose, to put a baby to death.