Virus shows we value all human life, including elderly and vulnerable, yet news abortion laws fail to protect the defenceless unborn

No aspect of everyday life has gone unaffected.

It has been encouraging to see so many people pulling together in an effort to protect our NHS, and it is humbling to see so many health workers prepared to put their own lives on the line in an effort to save others. But why are we as a country going to such extraordinary lengths in this situation?

Why are we particularly concerned to protect the elderly and vulnerable? It is because all human life is precious, because a human being is so much more than just a lump of cells, and because no one wants to live in a society whose ultimate guiding principle is “the survival of the fittest”. The current pandemic is underlining these truths.

It is then a cruel irony that this is the moment, when surely its focus should be on dealing with the pandemic, that the government has found time to publish its response to the consultation on abortion.

The government’s response ignores the value of human life, one of the most precious and fundamental axioms of society, and rather dehumanises the most defenceless in our community by treating them as mere clumps of cells.

We face the chilling prospect of disabled children being killed in the womb, labelled unwanted and dispensable, at the very time when, as the response to the coronavirus shows, we as a society should be going out of our way to give special protection to the vulnerable.

In ignoring the wishes of 79% of those who responded to the “consultation” and asked for no extension of abortion beyond the law that stood, the government has acted with wilful disregard towards the people.

In pressing ahead with imposing legislation from Westminster with Stormont now running, the government is treating the whole constitutional settlement with disdain.

Many years ago the prophet Isaiah declared, “Woe to those who make unjust laws” (Isaiah 10:1).

These words still speak today, and our politicians are called to listen.

Gareth Boreland, Holywood, Co Down