The pro-life movement lost the votes on abortion and assisted suicide. What went wrong?

After the House of Commons voted to decriminalise abortion and legalise assisted dying in the same week, campaigners are warning that decisions on life and death issues are being taken without proper scrutiny

In the space of three days, Parliament voted in favour of two landmark proposals — one decriminalising abortion , the other to legalise assisted suicide. Both of these monumental decisions marked a significant defeat for many Christians and the pro-life movement in the UK.

On 17 June, MPs passed an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill to decriminalise abortion in England and Wales. Brought by Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi, the amendment passed with a landslide 242-vote majority. It removes the possibility of prosecution for women who end pregnancies outside the current 24-week limit, making it the biggest change to abortion law in nearly 60 years.

Just three days later, MPs returned to vote on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill —which passed its third reading with a majority of 23 votes (314 to 291) and now progresses to the House of Lords. The bill would legalise assisted dying for terminally ill adults over the age of 18 who are expected to die within six months.

Mixed opinions

Together, the two decisions have sparked concern among Christians and pro-life advocates — not only for their ethical implications but in the procedure used to ratify the changes. But not all Christian MPs opposed the changes.

Zöe Franklin, Liberal Democrat MP for Guildford, told Premier Christianity she supported the Assisted Dying Bill as “safe, compassionate and careful”. While she acknowledged the theological complexities in being a Christian and supporting assisted dying, she admitted, “I do not see a conflict”.

She framed her position through the lens of what she perceives as God’s compassion-driven discontent with a “situation where people suffer in pain, unable to choose to end that pain if they wish to”. Franklin also emphasised the issue of inequality— noting that assisted death remains accessible only to those who can afford to travel abroad.

Catholic MP Chris Coghlan, who also voted in favour, made national headlines after he was denied communion by his parish priest. Ahead of the vote, Fr Ian Vane warned that siding with the bill would amount to “obstinately persevering in sin”.

Two days after the vote, he publicly announced Coghlan’s exclusion from receiving communion at both 8am and 10am Sunday Masses. Though the MP did not attend, he told the BBC that parishioners had contacted him, “pretty appalled” by what had happened.