One of the lesser known functions carried out by parliamentarians is sitting on committees. Select Committees comprise of a group of MPs and/or Peers who scrutinise a particular Government department – so the Health Select Committee looks at the work of the Health Department, for example. There are also committees that work on bills passing through Parliament – such as the recent Domestic Abuse Bill.
Sometimes committees tackle a certain, topical issue, and one committee is holding an inquiry looking to the future. A while back, I wrote a submission to the House of Lords COVID-19 Committee, which has been established to look at the long-term implications of the pandemic for our economy and our society (it’s finally been published online – with a trigger warning!). In its call for evidence, the Committee asks: what are you most worried about for the future? What do you most hope changes for the better?
These are interesting questions. One consequence of this pandemic and attendant lockdown has been to make us all reflect on our lives and what is really important. When it comes to pro-life issues, I’ve certainly had people asking at our (online) events if the virus has made people more aware of the value of human life.
During the pandemic, there has in many ways been an awakening to the value of human life. We have read about acts of heroism on the part of healthcare professionals and ordinary people. It has also been encouraging to see how willing most of the population has been to endure severe restrictions with the aim of protecting the elderly and vulnerable (groups that are not always given the concern and respect we would like to see). Yet, that concern for human life has not extended to the unborn population of this country.
This lockdown period has coincided with, or in some cases precipitated, some of the worst attacks on our brothers and sisters in the womb for decades. During lockdown, an extreme abortion regime was imposed on the people of Northern Ireland, who had managed to resist abortion for so long.
Dangerous DIY home abortion was introduced right at the beginning of lockdown, and despite other temporary lockdown measures now being lifted, and the copious evidence of the danger of the policy, it looks set to continue. In fact, the Government recently announced that it will hold a consultation on whether to make it permanent. In July, an attempt to greatly expand abortion law by hijacking the Domestic Abuse Bill was only narrowly averted.
SPUC’s submission to the Lords inquiry stressed the dangers of home abortion, and why it should not be made permanent. During this health crisis there has been a constant flow of information about the virus, its effects, the precautions people need take and so on. Yet there has been no public health information about telemedicine abortion provision.
Three key actions the SPUC community wants to see beyond Covid in this issue are:
- The dangerous DIY home abortions be abandoned straight away.
- The Care Quality Commission to be mandated to inspect independent abortion providers providing ‘pills through the post’ and ‘telemedicine’ abortions.
- The Government to report fully to both Parliament and the public on the full impact of remote abortion on the health and wellbeing of the women in this country.
The question of what we would like to see in a world post-Covid is a good one for pro-lifers to ponder. Can the concern shown for the elderly during the pandemic be translated into a rethink in how we treat older people generally? Can the value now being placed on sick and elderly people undo the growing calls for legal euthanasia? Can the admiration shown for healthcare workers mean a reversal of the erosion of conscience rights for medics? Will the extra time people have had to spend with their families lead to a change in priorities, where family life is accorded the utmost importance, and children are seen as the ultimate blessing, not burdens that get in the way of career progress?
These are big questions for our society - but ones we all need to think about.