Stormont MLA’s will vote today on pro-abortion amendments to the Criminal Justice Bill

Two amendments to the Criminal Justice Bill seeking the introduction of abortion now look unlikely to pass as the DUP say they will vote against it.

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has however asked the Northern Ireland Health Minister to set up a working group to look at how the issue of so called ‘fatal foetal abnormality’ can be addressed.

Two separate amendments to the Northern Ireland Criminal Justice Bill, tabled by  the Alliance and the Green Parties, aimed at changing the law on abortion will come to a vote today Wednesday February 10^th, The amendments if approved would allow abortion of babies with life-limiting disabilities and babies conceived by criminal acts (rape or incest).

Both the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children and Precious Life appealed to MLA’s to reject the proposals. These are the most vulnerable of unborn children and if their legal protection is denied, the legal protection of all unborn children is brought into question.

Northern Ireland’s Catholic Bishops have also urged Assembly members to reject the proposed amendments. The Bishops in their statement rephrased the issue to refer to unborn children with life-limiting conditions, rather than the pro-abortion definition of ‘fatal foetal abnormality’.

The DUP has asked the Northern Ireland health minister to set up a working group to look at how the issue of fatal foetal abnormality can be addressed.

The move comes as MLAs prepare for an assembly debate on whether to make abortions legal in such cases. The DUP said the issue required proper consideration by the assembly and executive, and that the Bill was not intended for this purpose. They have asked Health Minister Simon Hamilton to set up a working group, including clinicians and people with a legal background, to make recommendations as to how the issue can be addressed, including, if necessary, draft legislation. It is to report within six months.

The proposed amendment looks unlikely to pass now that the DUP has said it will be voting against it.

Scottish Midwives lose fight for conscientious objection to abortion

The UK Supreme Court has rejected the opportunity to uphold the right of conscientious objection for senior midwives who refuse to supervise abortions performed on a labour ward. Today's decision issued in the Supreme Court has been condemned by those who backed the Glasgow midwives' fight for their right to work in the NHS without being involved in abortions.

 Photograph shows Mary Doogan and Connie Wood with John Smeaton and Paul Tully of SPUC

The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) which paid the midwives’ legal expenses throughout the case has said that senior midwives who refuse to kill babies could be forced to leave the profession.

Mary Doogan and Connie Wood, the midwives in the case, commented on the judgment:

“We are both saddened and extremely disappointed with today's verdict from the Supreme Court and can only imagine the subsequent detrimental consequences that will result from today's decision on staff of conscience throughout the UK. 

“Despite it having been recognised that the number of abortions on the labour ward at our hospital is in fact a tiny percentage of the workload, which in turn could allow the accommodation of conscientious objection with minimal effort, this judgment, with its constraints and narrow interpretation, has resulted in the provision of a conscience clause which now in practice is meaningless for senior midwives on a labour ward. 

Paul Tully, general secretary of SPUC said:

“The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children acknowledges the great debt that the whole pro-life community owes to Mary Doogan and Connie Wood for fighting this battle over the past seven years. They have fought not only for their own careers, but for all current and future members of the profession who uphold the right to life of everyone, from the time of conception, without discrimination. We are bitterly disappointed for them.

“Today's decision sadly makes it likely that senior midwives who refuse to kill babies will be forced to leave the profession. Junior midwives might still be able to work in labour wards where abortions are performed but they will be restricted to 'staff midwife' status at best.  They could easily be placed in an impossible situation by pro-abortion superiors, and would be unable to receive promotion to a more senior role without fear of being required to violate their consciences.  This will affect anyone who objects to abortion, of any religion or none.  It will create a second-class status in midwifery for those who only deliver babies and don't kill them.

“Furthermore, the court has used the opportunity of this case to decide that the conscience clause in the Abortion Act does not apply to General Practitioners and that hospital doctors asked to prescribe abortion drugs will not be covered by the conscience clause.  We anticipate that this will lead to renewed efforts by health officials to force doctors who have a conscientious objection to abortion either to compromise their respect for human life or to leave the profession.  SPUC will support and encourage doctors to resist any such bullying approach.

“The pro-abortion lobby has long argued that conscientious objectors should be required to refer women seeking legal abortion to other practitioners.  Bodies such as the Department of Health have qualified this by saying that this only applies when the statutory grounds for a legal abortion apply, but the Supreme Court has said that any medical professional who refuses to provide an abortion should arrange for a referral to someone else who will do so. This seems to go far beyond the scope of the Abortion Act, and furthermore is not even an issue there was any need for the Court to decide in this case.

“The Court has nevertheless said that midwives and doctors with conscientious objections are obliged to refer abortion patients to colleagues who don't object to abortion.  This goes further than the General Medical Council, for instance, whose current guidance Personal Belief and Medical Practice says that doctors should refer patients to another doctor, but does not require them to check their colleague's pro-abortion credentials.”

2013 abortion statistics for England and Wales

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The recently released UK abortion statistics for 2013 show a gradual increase, in that the total number of abortions at 185,331 was 0.1% more than in 2012 (185,122) and 2.1% more than in 2003 (181,582).

The age-standardised abortion rate was highest for women aged 22 (at 30 per 1,000). Other recorded rates were15.9 per 1,000 women aged 15-44, the under-18 rate was 11.7 per 1,000 women and the under-16 abortion rate was 2.6 per 1,000 women respectively.

The recently published 2013 statistics also show that for the twelfth consecutive year the number of abortions recorded for women giving Irish addresses has declined from a high of 6,673 Irish abortions in 2001 to  3679 in 2013 representing a reduction of 44.8%. The figures also denote a year on year reduction, down from 3982 in 2012 to the current level of 3679

These reductions are to be welcomed however the fact that the lives of 3679 Irish babies were terminated in 2013 is a tragedy and more must be done to ensure that every baby who is conceived will be brought to birth and welcomed into our society.

Every abortion is an immense human tragedy but the significant drop in numbers travelling to Britain for abortion over the past 12 years is a positive development.

Sadly the introduction of abortion legislation into Ireland while it has not yet come into effect will influence future abortion statistics.

Attitudes, which foster the idea of abortion as any kind of a solution to pregnancy must be firmly rejected and perpetrators and facilitators of this barbaric act who operate under the guise of caring for women, must be exposed.  Abortion is big business.

Paul Tully, General Secretary of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), in a statement said that the abortion statistics reveal once again a huge toll of child-killing, now almost wholly funded by taxpayers. Over 8 million unborn children have now officially been slaughtered under Britain's iniquitous abortion law, the Abortion Act 1967.

"More abortions than ever are now funded by the NHS, and most of them are performed in private clinics by the so-called abortion charities. Nearly 119,000 unborn children were killed in private hospitals in 2013 at taxpayers' expense. A further 62,000 unborn children were killed in NHS hospitals - also at taxpayers' expense.”

SPUC director John Smeaton receives the Cardinal John J O’Connor award.

The Prestigious Cardinal John J O’Connor award for 2013 has been awarded to the executive director of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children John Smeaton for his untiring work in support of unborn life for the last 40 years.

The Cardinal John J O’Connor award has in previous years been given to Cardinal Raymond Burke and also to Dr. Jack Wilke who is known as the father of the pro-life movement in the United States. 

See reports by SPUC and LifeSite News

Photo shows John Smeaton and his wife Josephine with Legatus founder Tom Monaghan and Mike Faricy of the Legatus Board

John Smeaton who was also asked to address the Legatus convention in accepting the award told the gathering that he was deeply honoured to receive the award and he continued;

In addition to the honour to me personally, which I most gratefully acknowledge, it’s an award which implicitly honours Josephine, my dear wife, whose loving, wholehearted support for me, for my work for the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, SPUC, makes it possible for me to do that work.

It’s also an award which honours all of my fellow workers in SPUC and its members, who are the salt of the earth, and with whom I have had the privilege to work for 40 years, 36 of those years professionally.

It seems to me that the history of Legatus and the history of this award, are rooted in prophetic witness. It was, after all, Blessed John Paul II who wrote in his encyclical Evangelium Vitae: “Bishops are the first ones called to be untiring preachers of the Gospel of Life.” And Cardinal John J O’Connor’s life and work embody those prophetic words of our late Holy Father, as does the award itself. And I understand that it was following a meeting with Pope John Paul II, arguably the greatest prophet of the 20th and 21st century, that Mr. Monaghan was inspired to found Legatus.

Moreover, the roll call of previous recipients of the Cardinal John J O’Connor – several of whom I have the honour to know personally – is humbling and inspiring. I must now endeavour to live up to the standards set by so many great pro-life figures and leaders who’ve won this award before me. To mention but one, Dr Jack Willke remains a living pro-life prophet whose erudite, easy-to-read books, have been translated into thirty two languages and who broadcast on over 1000 radio stations. I doubt if any pro-life figure has done more than Jack, and his late beloved wife Barbara, to promote the Gospel of Life on the basis of solid facts and reliable empirical evidence.

I understand that Legatus requires its members to be ambassadors for Christ and in this connection I am particularly honoured to be receiving this award from Mr Monaghan whose prophetic witness in opposing President Barack Obama’s healthcare coverage for contraception and abortion has inspired the world.

The artificial separation of the unitive and procreative elements of sexual intercourse is not only the basis of contraception, it's also the basis of early abortion and in vitro fertilisation. It underpins today's culture of death.

 Cardinal Raymond Burke, who won the Cardinal John J O’Connor award two years ago, said in a speech in Rome, in November 2010, to the World Prayer Congress for Life:

“The attack on the innocent and defenceless life of the unborn has its origin in an erroneous view of human sexuality, which attempts to eliminate, by mechanical or chemical means, the essentially procreative nature of the conjugal act.  The error maintains that the artificially altered conjugal act retains its integrity. The claim is that the act remains unitive or loving, even though the procreative nature has been radically violated. In fact, it is not unitive, for one or both of the partners withholds an essential part of the gift of self, which is the essence of the conjugal union. The so-called ‘contraceptive mentality’ is essentially anti-life. Many forms of so-called contraception are, in fact, abortifacient, that is, they destroy, at its beginning, a life which has already been

conceived.”

May these prophetic words of Cardinal Raymond Burke. May the prophetic work of Legatus, and its ambassadors for Christ in the US and throughout the world, continue to inspire and guide the world in our struggle to build anew a culture a life in our troubled world.

Death of Alison Davis, head of SPUC division,"No Less Human"

SPUC report the sad news of the death of Alison Davis, the long standing leader of the SPUC division ‘No Less Human’, the division for disabled people within SPUC, Alison died this morning at 08:40 GMT, aged 58. She had been unwell for several years, and a long-term difficulty in eating resulted in her sad passing this morning.

SPUC Chief Executive John Smeaton in a statement earlier this morning said:

"Everyone in SPUC and the whole pro-life movement will be greatly saddened at her passing. Frail in body, she was full of strength in defence of the most defenceless human beings - disabled unborn children. Her keen insight and uncompromising solidarity have proved a powerful defence for the sick and disabled targeted with euthanasia. Her own early struggle with temptations to suicide made her an exceptional witness that life is always worth living. Alison's strong Catholic faith and her love of children moved her to care for orphans in India. Countless people touched by her life will now be praying that Alison, her family and her friends will receive the peace they seek."

Fr John Fleming, SPUC's bioethical consultant, said:

"Alison was a great pro-life warrior, and a wonderful example to us all of one who accepted her sufferings with astonishing equanimity. I also wish to pay tribute to Colin Harte, whose care for Alison was heroic, constant, and expert, and who greatly enhanced Alison's quality of life in every possible way."

Alison Davis and SPUC's division for disabled people ("No Less Human")

Alison Davis, who led SPUC’s No Less Human since 1982, had spina bifida and was a major commentator on anti-life philosophies and policies which discriminate, lethally, against disabled people http://www.spuc.org.uk/about/no-less-human/alison No Less Human, SPUC’s division for disabled people, their loved ones and carers http://www.spuc.org.uk/about/no-less-human/about// promotes the equal status, worth and rights of disabled people, including the most fundamental right of all – the  right to life, from conception to natural death. In spite of serious illness, Alison continued to write, publish and broadcast on the eugenic nature of the Abortion Act and on healthcare, government policies, which treat disabled lives as expendable – including major interviews on BBC’s Newsnight, the BBC World Service’s series Heart and Soul: Choosing Life and leading letters in the national newspapers throughout Britain. In addition, in August 2009 she published a paper showing how euthanasia has spread, starting with the 1992 Bland judgment, and how it has expanded as a result of the 2005 Mental Capacity Act and came to be implemented through the Liverpool Care Pathway.

In September 1982, in my report to SPUC’s national council, I proposed that Alison Davis should be asked to join the Council to represent SPUC’s Handicap Division, now known as No Less Human. The minutes state that my proposal "was warmly agreed by the Council".

Alison's early involvement in SPUC

Not long before, Alison, who had previously been in favour of abortion, had changed her mind on the issue, having read about a baby named Louise born in High Wycombe Hospital who was found to have both spina bifida and hydrocephalus. In Alison’s words:

"Her paediatrician, Dr. Donald Garrow, persuaded her parents that she would be ‘better off dead’ as she would be unable to walk, and would thus compare herself unfavourably with her two able-bodied sisters ...  Dr. Garrow made a video of her last days which was shown on daytime TV, and which I saw. Louise's face was grey, her eyes sunken. I wrote to Dr. Garrow at the hospital and explained that I was disabled to just the extent that Louise had been, and that I felt he had made a horribly wrong decision. In response he invited me to speak to his ‘team’ at the hospital, which I accepted. I cannot remember exactly what I said, but I pointed out that life with spina bifida and hydrocephalus could be full and happy, and that it was in any case wrong to deliberately kill any child on grounds of his/her disability."

Alison remained at the helm of SPUC’s work for disability rights ever since, speaking at SPUC’s Mother Teresa Rally in 1983 and joining SPUC's full-time staff in 2000.

Ireland rejects UN pressure to legalize abortion

The final report of Ireland’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR), was presented to the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Thursday by Ambassador Gerard Corr who told the meting that Ireland had fully accepted 91 of 127 recommendations made by other member states, partly-accepted 17, and not accepted 19.

A number of pro-abortion advocates were furious that the recommendations from, Spain, Denmark, the UK, the Netherlands, Norway and Slovenia, that Ireland should legalize abortion, were rejected. Pro-life groups on the other hand praised the Irish Government for their continued support of the right to life in accordance with Ireland’s Constitution.

Ambassador Corr also told the meeting which was the official UN follow-up relating to Ireland’s UPR review, which took place in October 2011 that Ireland’s  Minister for Justice, Alan Shatter, had set up an expert group on the issue of abortion.  He said the group was expected to present its findings in July of this year.

Patrick Buckley speaking on behalf of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children told the meeting.

The right to life of all members of the human family is recognised in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in subsequent Human Rights Covenants and Treaties it is also specifically protected in the Irish Constitution. It is a scientific fact that a new human life begins at conception / fertilisation

The will of the Irish people expressed though a number of Referenda is that the right to life of unborn babies the most vulnerable members of the human family be protected from the very beginning. The inalienable right to life of any section of the human family is not and should not be subject to the will or interests of others.

It is significant that no Treaty or Convention recognises a right to abortion yet many countries during the UPR process took it on themselves to instruct Ireland to introduce abortion. We very much appreciate the fact that Irish Delegation has firmly rejected those calls as set out in the report of the working group conclusions document A/HRC/ 19/9 paragraphs 108-4 to 108-9.

Ireland has an excellent record in the protection of the lives of both mothers and their babies and enjoys one of the lowest levels of maternal mortality in the world.

Lifesaving medical interventions, considered necessary to protect the lives of pregnant women have always been available in Ireland. Every opportunity is given to a mother and her baby to survive. Medical expertise recognises that it is never necessary to terminate the life of a child in order to save a mother’s life. While some children may not survive such interventions, their deaths are an undesired consequence of the treatment of the mother’s condition rather than the intended result of the doctor’s actions. It is important that such interventions are not confused with abortion procedures, which are specifically aimed at ending the life of an unborn child.

Contrary to the claims of abortion advocates, the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights in the Case of A, B & C v Ireland does not require Ireland to either to introduce abortion or liberalise its abortion laws. What they sought is clarity.

The Court ruled that access to abortion is not a human right; and that Ireland’s constitutional protection for children prior to birth does not violate women’s rights.

 

SPUC one day conference on Maternal Mortality

The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) has announced the holding of a conference on Maternal Mortality to be held in London on March 20th 2012. The Conference titled  : "Abortion or Maternal Health: What should we be funding in developing countries?"will be held in Regent Hall, 275 Oxford Street, London W1

Millennium Development Goal 5 pledged to cut global maternal mortality by 75% by 2015, but with that deadline looming hard questions need to be asked about why this goal will not be reached and what changes need to be made to reduce the unacceptably high rates of maternal death in developing countries. This one-day conference will bring together medical experts who work to provide live-saving health care to pregnant women in developing countries and legal specialists with expertise in the legislative context within which aid strategies are promoted.  Maternal mortality is, in the words of SPUC's Fiorella Nash, the Trojan Horse of the Abortion Lobby. By raising this highly-charged subject, the abortion industry seeks to garner more public support for itself and gain an ever increasing share of international aid, all in the name of humanitarian concern. Yet, as this briefing makes clear, talk of maternal mortality from the abortion industry has less to do with genuine help for women than with an agenda which is in fact acutely damaging to women and the unborn.

In conjunction with the announcement of the conference SPUC has issued a briefing package on Maternal Mortality challenging the pro-abortion mantras that constantly demand more and more access to what they call "safe legal abortion", while at the same time ignoring the fact that more abortion means more maternal mortality regardless of whether it is legal or illegal.

SPUC annual conference

The SPUC annual conference which took place last weekend provided an excellent insight into the current state of the pro-life movement both in the UK and internationally. 

The presentations included an insightful talk by Fiorella Nash on maternal mortality, an in-depth look at sex education in schools by Antonia Tully and a particularly noteworthy address by Bobby Schindler in which he spoke of his family's battle to keep his sister, Terri Schiavo, alive after a court ruled that her nutrition and hydration be withdrawn. Other aspects of the conference included a wonderful presentation by SPUC youth members, the launching of the new SPUC talk for schools, a variety of workshops and the awarding of a pro-life award to Peter Saunders of Christian Medical Fellowship who gave a presentation on "How the pro-euthanasia lobby works".

We concentrate today on Bobby Schlindler's address but will return to some of the other topics in future BLOGS

Bobby told the conference his sister's death was the "Roe v Wade of the euthanasia movement in the United States." Bobby talked of his family's battle to keep Terri alive after a court ruled that her food and hydration be withdrawn back in 2000..

Bobby told the meeting that in the first 2 years following her collapse Terri's medical records showed that her rehabilitation treatment was effective and she was starting to speak. "We were very hopeful about these tiny steps," he recalled.

Things took a turn for the worse after a medical malpractice lawsuit in 1992 in which Terri was awarded $1.5m for her treatment and her husband Michael was awarded $600,000. According to Bobby it was after this ruling and receiving the monies that things changed for Terri: the relationship between Terri's husband Michael and the Schindler family broke down and all communications stopped in 1993.

Shortly after this the family learned Michael had requested nurses not to provide Terri with antiobiotics for an infection. When they refused he moved her to another facility with the same request. Those nurses also refused. By 1998 he had engaged a pro-euthanasia attorney and the family received a letter stating that they would seek to have Terri's food and fluids removed and that Terri had wanted this. In 1999 legislation was changed in the state to define food and fluids as medical treatment.

Terri's case went to trial in 2000 and the judge ruled in favour of Michael Schiavo despite the serious questions about her living will or that Michael was set to inherit the money from her death. Bobby said:

"I'm still to this day amazed at the publicity Terri's case received specifically because it was already happening every day. Before the case Terri was very much alive, but the media protrayed her as someone whose quality of life was so poor that this action was in her best interests. Even medics were surprised at how responsive she was despite being neglected for so long. My sister wasn't brain dead. They call this an end of life issue but it isn't. Terri was very much alive. It became an end of life discussion when she wasn't at the end of her life."

According to Bobby what happened to Terri is now ordinary practice across America. It has even been argued that the definition of articifical feeding should be expanded to include more than a feeding tube but also spoon-feeding and that even bringing a tray to patients as diet must receive medical approval. Bobby told the conference he estimates hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people are now directly affected by the sort of thing that happened to Terri, and that's not even looking at terminal sedation cases or other ways of putting people to death. Bobby said:

"We now decide who lives and who dies on a quality of life judgement."

He also said some vulnerable people are now being described as 'non-persons' by many academics in the States. He added:

"The biggest thing we're up against is apathy, people don't care until it happens to someone they know."

He also said the pro-euthanasia lobby is now very powerful and has the backing of a media willing to distort the truth and a growing insensitivity towards people like my Terri, compounded by the language people use to refer to the vulnerable. Language like 'vegetable' should be abolished from our vocabulary, he said, as it serves no purpose but it's entrenched in our mentality and is validated by our mainstream media.

Bobby ended by recalling the experience of his family as they watched over Terri in her final weeks. He said:

"Our family had to watch Terri die of dehydration, watch her deteriorate."

When people ask what she looked like at that time he says he can only compare her to victims of Auschwitz. Her appearance, he said, was horrific. She had blood pouring in her eyes in the last days. It was disturbing to watch and not a peaceful way to die. And for Bobby the most heart wrenching thing was watching my parents.
To compound the family's grief George Philos, Michael's attorney, gave a press conference after Terri's death and said she'd never looked so beautiful as in the last week of her death.

Since Terri's death her family has formed the Life and Hope Network to help other families in the same situation in the US and around the world.

Major Abortion Conference at the Slieve Donard Resort & Spa, Newcastle, Co. Down. 7th/8th October 2010.

Despite the fact that abortion is illegal in Ireland – north and south The Family Planning Association (FPA) and The Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) have organised a joint conference on Abortion to take place at the Slieve Donard Resort & Spa, Newcastle, Co. Down. 7th/ 8th October 2010.

The holding of this conference in Northern Ireland appears to be a response to the fact that the Health Board recommendations on abortion had to be withdrawn following a judicial review sought by the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children

European Life Network is appealing to readers to contact the hotel and object firmly but politely to the holding of this conference.

SPUC Welcomes withdrawal of flawed abortion guidance in Northern Ireland

The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children have issued a statement welcoming the withdrawal of the flawed guidance on abortion issued by Northern Ireland's health department.

In a letter to Mr Jim Wells, chairman of the Northern Ireland Assembly's health committee, the department has announced that it has withdrawn its interim guidance on abortion. The department also announced that it was launching a public consultation on the guidance.

Liam Gibson of SPUC Northern Ireland told the media:

"We are very pleased that the health minister has withdrawn the interim guidance. This was the aim of the SPUC's application for a judicial review, due to be heard in September. The health minister has done the sensible thing by withdrawing the guidance. Otherwise he would have been ordered by the courts for a second time to withdraw it.

"When we challenged the original guidance in the High Court last year, the judge rejected a request from the department that it should be allowed to withdraw only the sections on counselling and conscientious objection. Health officials simply ignored this ruling. They quickly re-published the guidance with those sections left out. Otherwise the document was unchanged.

"Both the information given to women and the rights of medical personnel are central to clinical practice. We believe that any guidance which says nothing about these issues is fundamentally flawed, and should never have been published. The department finally seems to have accepted that.

"Until now, the health department has acted in a high-handed and belligerent manner regarding the guidance. The department appeared determined to pursue its own agenda, rather than apply the law. We will be working closely with pro-life members of the Northern Ireland Assembly and its health committee to ensure that the department's consultation does not result in the rights of women, unborn children or the medical profession being undermined."

SPUC Conference begins

SPUC's annual conference opened this evening with a superb presentation on foetal sentience by Jeronima Teixeira, professor and consultant in Obstetrics and Gynaecology. She presented her groundbreaking research into foetal sentience, specifically the capacity of the unborn baby to experience pain. Her research is the first of its kind and provides compelling evidence that the unborn baby is capable of feeling pain from as early as six weeks gestation.

A renowned expert in foetal medicine, Professor Teixeira has also published on the impact of maternal anxiety on foetal development.

One of the most chilling comments she made during her presentation was that in the UK animal foetuses enjoy better legal protection than unborn children. It was easier for her team to gain permission to conduct research on unborn children (as part of legitimate medical treatment) than to gain permission to experiment on animal foetuses, so much so that her team had to conduct its animal research in Australia. She made the point that animals are by definition not conscious and yet enjoy protection. On the other hand, consciousness is often used as a justification for offering no protection to unborn children. It says a great deal about the sort of country Britain has become that animals are more valued than unborn children.