I AM HERE

‘My value is not based on how I was conceived.’  Rebecca Kiessling, ‘Conceived in rape.’

Abortion legislation, such as the UK Abortion Act (1967), effectively sets out that babies in the womb can be disposed of like commodities, regarded as ‘non-persons’ and denied their human rights for even the most trivial of reasons.  Abortion is now offered as some sort of humanitarian solution to practical problems and on that basis has been deemed morally justifiable and more and more acceptable.  References to women’s rights aim to convince people it’s some sort of entitlement.

The freedom to make personal choices is a right but when pregnant there’s another human being in existence and the ‘choice’ of abortion takes away that baby’s right to life.  Each new human life begins at conception, that is a scientific fact.  From that point on a new individual being exists, it is here in the world, the rest is just a question of development both inside and outside the womb.

Early feminists opposed abortion on these very grounds.  They stated that as they were fighting against being treated as ‘commodities’ they would never want to impose such treatment on others, let alone children.  Now legal abortion enshrines in law a justification for economics or practicality to be used as reason to destroy human life at this most vulnerable stage and it’s labelled a woman’s choice.

Today it is considered good for society that  some individuals can make quality of life judgements that decide whose life is worth living and whose is not. Chillingly it is shrouded in language that talks of time limits or what stage the unborn baby can feel the pain of being aborted.  The child’s biological dependence on it’s mum during pregnancy is used to dehumanise the voiceless child and rob it of its internationally enshrined right to life and to protection in the womb.

We now talk of ‘viability’ of life in cases of suspected disability and of the right to end the life of someone who is not ‘wanted’ because their conception was unplanned or the result of rape.  We talk of lives that are ‘not worth living’ instead of calling for laws that protect and promote respect for the rights of all people, no matter what their stage of development, their mental or physical health, or the circumstances of their conception.

We are expected to accept this legislation so that women can choose to end the life of their own child, even though it can impact on them in the most negative ways instead of legislation that addresses the problems women face that force them to choose abortion as a life solution.

It is sold to women as some sort of cosmetic procedure by pretending the unborn child is not fully alive, as though there are stages of being human, and many endure their regret and grief in silence afterwards thinking they are the only ones.

By accepting abortion we allow our societies to continue masking the social problems that lead to them like poverty or lack of support for mothers in education by pretending.  We pretend abortion is the easy solution. Because it’s an option, it enables employers not to have to make concessions to women and allows discrimination against mothers and results in a lack of support for  women in crisis pregnancy other than the ‘choice’ of aborting their child.  Surely woman deserve better than abortion.

During this conference you will hear from voices across the pro-life movement.  From those very ‘exceptions’, the person born with a disability and the life conceived through rape.  You will be hearing from women  who faced the pressure of making the decision to abort and the impact of the choice they made on their lives.  And you’ll meet experts on post-abortion trauma, the scientists challenging the slippery slope set in motion by legalised abortion and the activists leading the pro-life cause around the world.

As the youth of today it is up to you to take the inspiration and information you will learn here out into the world as the new pro-life generation.