Abortion matters

The issue of abortion will always be close to the hearts of us as evangelical Christians – and many others of course too.

How can it not be? The slaughter of so many millions of unborn children in the West in the last few decades is one of the great blind spots of our decaying culture. (Of course, there are always situations – for example rape, incest and imminent danger to a mother’s life – where we cannot be so black and white, but they should not distract us from the wider tragedy where no such contingencies apply.)

The selection of Tim Walz as a vice-presidential candidate in the US will rightly cause particular concern. According to the reputable news agency AP, as governor of Minnesota, Walz ‘codified’ abortion rights, ‘repealing essentially all the state’s restrictions,’ [our italics]. AP also reported that this left the state, according to pro-life campaigners, with ‘essentially no restrictions on abortion at any stage of pregnancy’. Furthermore, proposed amendments ‘including prohibitions on third-trimester abortions except to save the patient’s life,’ were rejected. Rightly this causes revulsion.