In the UK two women have died after taking the abortion pill RU-486 to terminate their pregnancies. One of them developed sepsis and passed away shortly after arriving at a hospital’s emergency department, while the other was found dead at her home a day after she took the pills to start the process called medical or chemical abortion.
This is the end result of the British government’s decision from late March to facilitate access to abortion during the coronavirus pandemic by allowing women to order the abortion pill by mail and then perform the “DIY” abortion “in the comfort of their home.”
Though the abortion pill has been widely welcomed as an “easier” way to terminate a pregnancy, as it does not imply a surgical intervention (unless it happens that not all contents are expelled, in which case the woman has to go in for a procedure), only those who care nothing about the health and lives of women could make it legal to send abortion pills by post, thus abandoning women to a kind of Russian roulette.
For instance, in case of an ectopic pregnancy (when the embryo begins developing in the fallopian tube or otherwise outside the main cavity of the uterus), the abortion pill cannot expel the embryo; which means that after a woman has taken the pill and started to bleed, she will still remain pregnant, but would not know that she is still in danger, as the ectopic pregnancy is a direct threat to her life.
And that’s not all. The abortion pill may only be taken until a certain threshold – thus the “DIY” home abortion has been allowed in the UK until week 10. After this stage in development, the procedure must be done surgically. When the pill is delivered by a post service, the clinic sending it cannot know for certain how far along a woman is – and thus this is another way that the health and lives of women are jeopardized.
In case you thought that clinics wouldn’t do that, as they are among the loudest advocates of a “safe, legal and rare” abortion – you might want to think again. In addition to the many tragic examples in the USA[1] where even before the pandemic there were cases of the abortion pill being used way past the legal limit, more such cases have surfaced in the UK, with as many as 13 ongoing investigations into abortion pill abuse. One of them concerns a pregnant woman who aborted her baby at home although she was 22 weeks over the legal limit for the home abortion via the abortion pill. Also, emergency departments reported cases of ruptured ectopics, major hemorrhages, and preterm deliveries of infants up to 30 weeks of gestation – all of them attributed to “DIY” home abortion.
These events came to light at the end of July during a case presented to the UK Court of Appeal wherein the Christian Legal Centre challenged the Government’s decision to legalize home abortion. Sadly, the Court turned a deaf ear. The investigation into the above cases is being led by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists – the very same medical body that had lobbied for the introduction of “DIY” home abortion.
Audiences around the world were able to see what home abortion really looks like in the Unplanned movie, that premiered in the USA in March last year.
During the pandemic, we have been constantly hearing about all the measures that need to be taken in order to save lives, and those who dictate when and how our movement, socializing, gatherings and even church goings will be restricted, call on us to voluntarily refrain from a number of activities, including the jobs with which we support our families – all of which will be worth it if it saves at least one life, they tell us.
Today we wear masks… “to save at least one life.” Tomorrow we will be asked to take the vaccine… “to save at least one life.” Meanwhile, however, the liberal lobby is trying to include abortion under essential healthcare during the pandemic.
Let’s get this straight: we are only saving the lives of those we deem worthy, and at the same time we are working overtime so that in these emergency circumstances women could have easier access to abortion services and eliminate the lives of their children, with the “bonus” of endangering their own lives.
Either human life is inherently valuable and deserves protection from conception to natural death – or it is not. If it isn’t, then we need the criteria to evaluate human life. These can be knowledge, abilities, contribution to society or science, or perhaps wealth, power, political influence… or the amount of weapons one possesses!
For us Christians, this is a no-brainer. The value of every human life is indisputable, because each and every one of us is made in the image of God.
“For You formed my inward parts,
You covered me in my mother’s womb.
I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”
(Psalm 139:13–14)
[1]The FDA published a report stating that from 2000 until 31 December 2018, there were 24 deaths attributable to the abortion pill, 97 ruptured ectopics (including two fatalities), and several cases of severe systemic infection (sepsis), some of them fatal. The report stated that there were almost 4.200 complications, including deaths (24 women), hospitalisations (1,042 women) and other complications (599 blood transfusions and 412 infections, of which 69 serious cases).
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