Catherine Robinson: Abortion laws are failing both women and unborn babies - we need to take action to build a pro-life nation

Further to this, after Westminster forced an extreme abortion regime on Northern Ireland, thousands of lives have been lost to abortion in the region.

Figures obtained by TUV leader Jim Allister reveal that from March 2020 to September 2022, 4,136 abortions were carried out in Northern Ireland.

Between 1 January and 30 June 2022, there were 123,219 abortions for residents of England and Wales.

This is 17,731 higher than the figure for the first six months of 2021, which was 105,488 for residents of England and Wales.

2021 saw the highest number of abortions ever recorded in England and Wales over a full year, at 214,256.

The statistics for 2022 also show that there were 50,289 repeat abortions for residents of England and Wales (where a woman previously had one or more abortions). This represents 41% of abortions that took place in the first half of 2022.

13,970 women who reside in England and Wales had previously had two or more abortions. This represents 11% of abortions that took place in the first half of 2022.

Tragically, 53 women who reside in England and Wales had previously had eight or more abortions.

There were 1,428 disability-selective (ground E) abortions for residents of England and Wales in the first half of 2022. 120 of these were late-term abortions for babies with disabilities at 24 weeks and over.

This significant rise in abortions has come as abortion campaigners, led by abortion provider the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), cynically use the tragic case of the death of Baby Lily, at between 32 and 34 weeks gestation, to campaign for the full “decriminalisation” of abortion.

This would make abortion up to birth legal for any reason in England and Wales.

There needs to be an urgent reinstatement of in-person appointments before abortions take place to ensure that the gestation of babies can accurately be assessed.

Alongside this, the government must undertake a full inquiry into the abortion provider, BPAS, for sending out abortion pills to a woman whose baby was 22 weeks beyond the legal limit for at-home abortions.

The government must also firmly reject changing legislation to make abortion legal right up to birth, as is proposed by abortion campaigners, led by BPAS, who are using this tragic case to call for the removal of more abortion safeguards and to build momentum for their campaign to introduce abortion up to birth across the United Kingdom.

Opinion polls repeatedly show that the public want increased protections for unborn babies and more support for mothers facing unplanned pregnancies rather than the wholesale removal of legal safeguards around abortion.

Only 1% of the population want abortion to be available up to birth and 70% of women want the abortion limit to be reduced to 20 weeks or lower.

Our abortion laws are failing both women and unborn babies.

It is a national tragedy that so many lives have been lost to abortion, each one a unique and valuable human being who was denied the right to life.

Every one of these abortions represents a collective failure of our society to protect the lives of babies in the womb and a failure to offer full support to women with unplanned pregnancies.

While we may pause to commemorate this tragedy, this anniversary also serves as a call to action for people around the country to renew their efforts to do everything they can to help ensure more lives are saved from abortion in the future.

This includes contacting MPs and MLAs and asking them to ensure that protections for unborn babies are introduced and safeguards are strengthened to protect both mothers and babies - along with volunteering with pregnancy support centres and undertaking other pro-life activities that support mothers and their children in pregnancy and beyond.

By being proactive and taking action, every single one of us can be part of building a pro-life nation where we protect and defend the right to life of every human being from conception to natural death.

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l Catherine Robinson is a spokesperson for Right to Life UK, a charitable pro-life organisation focused on issues including abortion, euthanasia and assisted suicide

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