Abortion law a modernisation – I don’t think so
I AM writing to express my concern about the use of the word ‘modernisation’ by Heidi Soulsby when she is quoted regarding the proposed debate concerning the Abortion Law (Guernsey Press, 16 April).
The thought that such a word as ‘modernisation’ could be used to describe a system which increases the time allowed to destroy the lives of innocent children in the womb beggars belief. Is this modernisation? I call it a retrograde step for humanity at a time when we are thinking very much about the sanctity of human life.
The promotion of such a system whereby such living and vulnerable human beings are subject to such treatment has never before been seen in the history of humankind. There is only one parallel where innocent lives have been destroyed in such a systematic and ‘legalised’ way, and that was when the mentally ill, social misfits and the unwanted were eradicated by the evil regime of Nazi Germany. The method was very simple. First, you dehumanise them by showing how anti-social these beings are and how unwanted they are in a perfect society. You change a terminology to describe their lives to prevent any sentimentality, and then, once you have convinced others that the victims are not thinking rational human beings (homo sapiens), you get rid of them – as Hitler once described them as ‘useless eaters’!
Let us beware of the path which we wish to take in this debate and pray that we may see clearly what are the implications of our actions.
THE REV. BRUCE BARNES
Parish Priest and Catholic Dean of Guernsey.