Image – Wikimedia Commons: Archbishop Sarah Mullally in 2019 as the Lord Bishop of London
With just two days to go before the House of Lords are expected to debate and vote on an extreme abortion up to birth amendment, we can report that the Archbishop of Canterbury is likely to be missing from her seat in the Chamber for Wednesday’s vote.
On 14th March, the Anglican Communion News Service posted details on X about a six-day pilgrimage, from London to Canterbury, that Sarah Mullally will be embarking on, starting on Tuesday 17th March.
With Clause 191 (pertaining to the decriminalisation of abortion up to birth) of the Crime and Policing Bill due to be voted on Wednesday 18th March, this means that Mullally, as one of the Lords Spiritual in the House of Lords, will not be present to vote on such a momentous issue.
The Lords Spiritual are a group of 26 Church of England bishops who have seats in the House of Lords. Ironically, many of these bishops, including Mullally, have spoken out strongly against Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill. In September 2025 when it was being debated in the House of Lords, Mullally said:
“If passed, this Bill will signal that we are a society that believes that some lives are not worth living.”
However, Mullally’s expected absence from the Chamber for Wednesday’s vote is further evidence that, on the issue of abortion, the Church of England hierarchy continues to waver and be found wanting.
Commenting on the story, SPUC’s Communications Manager, Peter Kearney, said:
“The absence of the highest-ranking Anglican cleric from Wednesday’s abortion up to birth debate is a damning indictment on Sarah Mullally personally, and the Church of England hierarchy more generally. We are contending with the possibility of abortion up to birth, with no consequences for the mother, but the head of the Church of England sees fit to sit this debate out.
“With two days to go, however, SPUC, for our part, continues to campaign hard against Clause 191. In these last few days, we are urging supporters to express their concerns to the Lords.”
Please keep writing and keeping the pressure on peers to remove this terrible proposal.
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