destroying the child, we are destroying love, destroying the image of God in the world.' The Quaker, Gerald Priestland, put it another way: in an abortion 'life is not just prevented or postponed, it is destroyed. As a Christian and a believer that life is a divine gift and that God has a will for each one, I have to agree that his presence does put things in a different light ... Like war, abortion is a confession of failure.' Speaking at a 'Care for Life' rally, at the Royal Albert Hall, the Scottish evangelical, Dr Nigel Cameron, said that 'the final act of child abuse' should be 'seen as the dawn of a new barbarism, and challenges our Christian values at a fundamental level'. And the Christian feminist lawyer, Pauline Connor, argues that:
abortion cannot solve the problems of violence against women because it is part of the problem of violence against women ... abortionism has transformed women and children into objects ... feminism is about attaining justice and consequently has nothing to do with killing. Women have not, and we cannot, kill our way to liberation.3
Following the Synod of Bishops, held in Rome in 1980, on the theme 'The Role of the Christian Family in the Modern World', John Paul II acceded to the Synod's Request that a Family Charter be prepared. This was published in 19834 and Article 4 says:
Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. a) Abortion is a direct violation of the fundamental right to life of the human being; b) Respect of the dignity of the human being excludes all experimental manipulation or exploitation of the human embryo; c) All interventions on the genetic heritage of the human person that are not aimed at correcting anomalies constitute a violation of the right to bodily integrity and contradict the good of the family; d) Children, both before and after birth, have the right to special protection and assistance, as do their mothers during pregnancy and for a reasonable period after birth.
Not all Christians hold to such firm convictions. In supporting the passage of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, the Archbishop of York called for the