Pro-life advocates in the UK are urging Catholic bishops to take a stronger stance against abortion, following a major maternity scandal in Nottingham.
The scandal, which has led to fines for local hospitals and a vast inquiry into failed maternity services, revealed that thousands of women were wrongly pressured into abortions based on misdiagnosed prenatal tests.
John Edwards, a local pro-life coordinator, expressed concern that the culture of abortion is influencing the medical care of new-borns, with some hospitals even offering abortions up to birth for conditions like cleft palates.
Over 2,000 families joined the independent inquiry into maternity services at Nottingham’s City Hospital and Queen’s Medical Centre after claims that hundreds of babies had been injured or died through negligence.
As the UK continues to grapple with high abortion rates, activists like Edwards and Vaughan-Spruce are pushing for more vocal pro-life leadership from the church, stressing that it must counter the “relativistic value system” that has permeated society and medicine.
Isabel Vaughan-Spruce of March for Life UK said that the situation is an opportunity for the church to be a “beacon of hope for those whose lives have been shattered.”