The new leader of Ukip has said that he supports halving the abortion time limit to 12 weeks.
Speaking on LBC radio, Paul Nuttall said: “I would like to see the limit for abortion reduced, simply because I think we’ve had scientific and medical advances” – which mean that babies born before the 24-week limit survive in some cases.
Interviewer Nick Ferrari quoted Mr Nuttall in 2012 writing on his blog: “Advertising abortion trivialises what is in reality killing an unborn child, and the potential psychological implications for the mother are well documented. Killers such as Ian Brady and Ian Huntley have their human rights and did not face the death penalty for taking the lives of children. Who is to defend the unborn child faced with a death sentence?”
On LBC Mr Ferrari said: “Some would say you’re likening abortion to the Moors murders and Ian Huntley.”
Mr Nuttall replied that he had been talking about human rights, and that if there was a referendum for the return of the death penalty for child killers, he would vote in favour.
On the time limit for abortion Mr Nuttall said: “I’d say 12 weeks, which is the same as the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt [says] and I believe it’s the same as Tim Farron, the leader of the Liberal Democrats [says] as well. So there’s nothing controversial there.”
The 24-week limit was set by Parliament in 1990. Parliament debated reducing the limit to 20 weeks in 2008, but this was rejected by a majority of 71. In 2012 a motion by Catholic Conservative MP Nadine Dorries to reduce the time limit to 20 weeks was debated in Westminster Hall, which meant it did not go to a vote. Ninety-two per cent of the 191,000 abortions that took place in England and Wales in 2015 were performed at or under 13 weeks’ gestation.
Sister tells vocation story to Graham Norton
A woman who gave up wealth and privilege to become a Religious Sister has published the story of her life.
In her book A Nun’s Story, Sister Agatha describes being presented as a debutante to King George VI aged 16. She had her life mapped out in front of her, she wrote, in the form of an advantageous marriage.
Five years later she was writing to her fiancé when she suddenly knew her vocation.
“I stopped mid-sentence and wrote the words, ‘There is no point for I am to become a nun.’ It was there in black and white. I was so upset by the thought God was taking me away from the man I loved that I was sobbing.”
Sister Agatha, speaking to Graham Norton on his BBC Radio 2 show on Saturday, said that her vocation had made her “terribly happy” and that she had been “so lucky because it was such a strong vocation”.
She said: “It was very clear, and when I knew it, it was as if it had been for all eternity; it wasn’t a sort of snap decision on God’s part.” Later, Jeremy, her fiancé, “drove me to the convent in Northolt in his Lagonda and gave me to God”, she told the Catholic Herald. She joined the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary (the branch is now known as the Congregation of Jesus), taking her final vows in 1960.
In 1976 Sister Agatha moved to the Bar Convent in York, the oldest convent in the order, established in 1686 by Frances Bedingfield, an early member of the institute, which was founded in 1609 by Mary Ward. She was to be Reverend Mother there from 1976 to 2000.
Her autobiography, co-written with Richard Newman, is published by John Blake.
Hate crime prosecutions ‘put religious freedom at risk’
More than 8,000 people have signed a petition declaring that hate crime prosecutions threaten religious freedom.
The petition is published on the website of the Christian pressure group CitizenGo, which campaigns “to defend and promote life, family, and liberty”. The petition was launched in response to a public consultation document by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) “on the prosecution of offences involving hostility on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity”.
The document, issued in October, covers crimes “based on prejudice, discrimination and hostility” which are “motivated by hostility towards people on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity”.
CitizenGo’s campaign is based on legal analysis by another campaign group, Christian Concern.
CitizenGo argues that “‘crimes of stirring up hatred’ could amount to saying or doing something which is perceived by the victim to be ‘insulting’”. It suggests that simply stating your beliefs could be seen as insulting.
Jack Scarisbrick steps down at Life
The founder of the pro-life charity Life has stepped down as chairman after 46 years.
Professor Jack Scarisbrick, who was born in 1928 and became a distinguished historian, founded the charity with his wife Nuala in 1970. He described new chairman Laura Higgins as “young, dynamic and totally committed to the pro-life cause”.
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