Notes and Comments

The barbaric practice of abortion

DOCTORS in Germany are calling for a ban on abortions of foetuses more than 20 weeks old. This follows a case when doctors attempted to abort a baby weighing 1¹/₂ pounds at 25 weeks. The baby was thought to have Down's Syndrome but was born alive and placed "under observation" (the report in The Weekly Telegraph supplied the inverted commas) for 10 hours. During that time the child received no other attention of any kind. Only at that stage did doctors decide, in consultation with the parents, to give medical assistance. The child has since undergone several operations as the result of severe damage inflicted in the failed attempt to abort. Not surprisingly, the country was horrified and a passionate debate has been stirred up.

A debate has also been raging in the Republican Party in the USA over the barbaric practice of partial-birth abortions. It is surely evidence of the depraved state of society today that doctors, who are supposedly committed to helping individuals recover their health and to prevent ill-health, are engaging in such practices, so totally destructive of human life and there can be no question that foetuses of, say, 25 weeks, though unborn, are truly human beings. It is something of an irony that it is when the attempt to destroy life is unsuccessful that it attracts a public outcry. But it would be good if a restraint were placed on abortion; better still, if there was a return to the Scriptural position that all abortion is totally unjustified, and therefore a most serious sin, unless there is danger to the life of the mother.
K. D. M.

The Health Secretary aims to relax the law on abortion

SINCE the above note was written, it is reported that Mr Frank Dobson, the Health Secretary, wants to relax the abortion laws to make it easier for women to terminate pregnancies early. He is expressing a personal view, not Government policy, he said, and hopes to find a Labour backbencher who will bring forward proposals for liberalising the abortion law on which MPs would be given a free vote.

We deplore any widening of the already iniquitous Abortion Act, which so far has resulted in the slaughter of five million unborn babies in the womb, and virtually provides for abortion on demand. God has not ceased to say, "And surely your blood of your lives will I require; . . .at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man" a warning that applies to nations as well as individuals. Nationally, our hands are deeply stained by the blood of this unlawful killing, and we stand condemned.

From this viewpoint alone, Mr Dobson is utterly wrong in trying to liberalise the law. Also, the vast majority of people in the country are against abortion on demand (only 26 per cent of those who were interviewed in an opinion poll last year believed it should be available). The Health Secretary is certainly showing his low regard for the sanctity of human life. "He is effectively saying," said one MP, "that he does not count the unborn human being as a human at all."

Stornoway public houses to remain closed on the Sabbath

THREE public house proprietors in Stornoway, having been refused permission to open on the Lord's Day by the Western Isles Licensing Board, have now failed to have that decision overturned by the Sheriff Court. The Sheriff's decision not to allow the appeal was, however, based on the appellant's failure to serve papers on the Board and objectors in due time, and it remains to be seen whether or not the matter will now go further.

We have cause to be thankful to the Most High that the determined attempt made to have these licensed premises open on the Sabbath has thus far been frustrated and we can only hope and pray that this will continue to be the case.

The Licensing Board are to be commended for deciding unanimously to refuse the Stornoway publicans' application in the first place, but we are deeply disappointed that more recently they saw fit to grant, "the first Sunday afternoon license for a hotel in Lewis". This is only for one and a half hours in the restaurant of the hotel but we fear that it is the thin end of the wedge. Some Board members voted against this application being granted, while others abstained, and we are grateful for that.

The extension of licensing hours, especially on the Sabbath, is heaven-provoking. One would think, in view of the acknowledged problems associated with over indulgence in alcohol liquor, that common sense would tell those concerned that they ought to curtail rather than increase licensing hours. It is those poor men and women already in the grip of strong drink and thus least able to resist temptation who are going to do themselves further harm. "To be an inn-keeper," Rev. Lachlan MacKenzie of Lochcarron is reported to have said on one occasion, "you need three qualifications a dog's tail, a sow's maw, and a heart of stone." We leave the reader to solve the riddle.
J. McL.

Elections on the Lord's Day being considered by the Government

A report in The Daily Telegraph states, "Voting on Sunday, instead of the traditional Thursday, is being considered by the Government in an attempt to boost flagging public interest in council elections." Polling day for local council elections is presently fixed as the first Thursday in May under the Representation of the People Act. Government ministers believe, says the report, that one way of making local elections more "accessible" could be to switch polling day to the weekend.

Such a prospect is appalling because, of course, it would result in nationwide and gross desecration of the Sabbath. Not only so, but a large number of people would be effectively deprived of their right to vote because they could not, on conscientious grounds, vote on the Lord's Day.

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