​If CofE bishops won’t speak out against abortion law change, they should resign

The Church of England lectionary told me to read Psalm 14 yesterday morning. It says that people who say: “there is no God” are not just lovely, quiet atheists, but “corrupt.” They do “abominable deeds”, it says.  

John Calvin commented that the psalmist here “groans and feels deep distress at the disorder which he beholds” in a world ruled by secular atheism. Many of us have felt like that, especially after the passage of the latest Crime and Policing Bill through the House of Commons - and particularly the part which would now allow abortion up until birth without any sanctions for the mother. 

A wrong is a wrong 

We all understand that a woman who, for example, chooses to end the life of her unborn child the day before it is due to be born is probably not in a good place mentally. She needs help. She needs looking after. Society has failed in so many ways to allow this situation.  

But if she does take this decision, let’s not beat around the bush: she has done something wrong. You may be offended by the starkness of my moral judgment here. But I am horrified that so many people in our Parliament don’t see this as wrong. 

Why not be clear? Say: “Abortion is wrong, and we wish it didn’t ever happen” 

Surely the CofE could - and should - take a clear, strong moral lead on this?

Historically, Christianity has always been against abortion, because it sees all human life as sacred, made in God’s image - and a foetus is a human life. In the early Church, Christians adopted the babies left on rubbish tips to die by parents who didn’t want them. Because a baby’s value is not determined by the choices of its parents; it is inherent within them as human beings. 

More than worrying 

The Church Times reported that a CofE spokesperson said this law change – being billed as the biggest change to abortion law in six decades - was “worrying”.  

It was a “highly complex and emotive issue” they continued. “Whilst women ought not to be criminalised, it is worrying that this very significant change to the law may lead to more late-term abortions, including sex-selective abortions. So, it is right that providing an abortion outside the amended 1967 Act remains a criminal offence for abortion providers. We recognise that this is a hugely difficult and important decision for women which is not taken lightly, and we must ensure that they are given the care and support that they need.” 

A baby’s value is not determined by the choices of its parents; it is inherent within them 

I would argue that it should not be left to an unnamed spokesperson to speak into a national debate of the utmost existential importance. Where are the bishop’s voices? I know we only have one archbishop at the moment, but still. Surely, he could find the time?

A few bishops who are part of Church Society have made a clear statement on their own initiative. A few more have added their names to an open letter written by other people. But this doesn’t really count as an official Church response. Where is the deluge of episcopal outcries on TV, radio and social media?  

More than that, why is this statement such a decaffeinated GCSE/ChatGPT-level response to an issue on which Christianity has always been crystal clear? The child is not even the focus. If a foetus is a human life, and all human life is sacred and made in God’s image, why not be clear? Say: “Abortion is wrong, and we wish it didn’t ever happen.”  

Is it really “hugely difficult” to see the moral wrong in killing a nine-month-old baby in the womb? 

Speak up or leave

I know one MP who has responded to constituents expressing disagreement with the new proposals by saying that the law as it stands was written by men in Victorian times when women didn’t even have the right to vote. But what on earth does this have to do with anything?  

Is it now the age of a law or the sex of the people passing it that matters, rather than its fairness and likely impact? 

What I find “worrying” is that we may now be in a situation where most bishops are officially silent or confused on everything Christians have always believed. CofE spokespeople can’t quote the Bible or make a recognisably Christian moral statement against a clear evil. And MPs can’t spot glaring logical fallacies and non-sequiturs in their blind march to smash the patriarchy. “Have they no knowledge, these doers of evil”? (Psalm 14:4). 

Please could the supposed “quiet revival” happen more quickly and come sooner, so we can have new leaders who will actually speak up for those made in the image of God?  

If the Church of England can’t put out a more robust official response to what many in the pews see as infanticide, it is time for them all to do what the Archbishop of Canterbury did last year. Safeguarding failures, institutional gaslighting, and a failure to teach the faith and discipline error are serious enough. But failing the most vulnerable and leaving it to unnamed sources to respond is not “an emotive and complex issue.” It’s a resigning one.