A Nation's Rebellion: Decriminalising Abortion Up to Birth and the Call to Repentance

The United Kingdom stands at a grave moral crossroads. As the House of Lords has debated and advanced provisions in the Crime and Policing Bill, provisions now law, that remove criminal penalties for women who end their own pregnancies at any stage, including up to the moment of birth, our nation has taken a solemn and sobering step. This is not mere legislative tinkering; it is a profound act of defiance against the Creator's design and the unchanging moral law of God.

At Honiton Evangelical Congregational Church, we stand firmly in the historic stream of Reformed evangelical conviction. We confess the authority of Scripture alone as our rule of faith and practice, holding to the Savoy Declaration of Faith and Order (1658). These standards affirm what the Bible plainly teaches: human life is sacred from the moment of conception, bearing the image of God (Genesis 1:27; Psalm 139:13–16). The child in the womb is not potential life but a living soul, fearfully and wonderfully made by the sovereign hand of the Lord who knows us before we are formed (Jeremiah 1:5). To take that life is to shed innocent blood, an abomination the Lord hates (Proverbs 6:16–17; Exodus 23:7).

The recent change preserves the 24-week limit for abortions under medical supervision, a threshold long tied to notions of fetal viability. Yet by decriminalising any action a woman takes in relation to her own pregnancy, no matter how late the term, it removes the final legal safeguard against the destruction of children who could survive outside the womb. Medical evidence shows that at 24 weeks and beyond, many babies can live with neonatal care: they breathe, cry, respond, and grow. In removing prosecution for self-induced terminations at these stages, the law effectively permits what amounts to the ending of viable human lives without consequence when carried out by the mother herself. This is a grave moral threshold crossed, one that normalises the destruction of those who, by God's common grace and human medicine, could be saved and flourish.

Reformed theology compels us to view this development through the sobering lens of Romans 1. When societies suppress the truth about God evident in creation and conscience, the righteous Judge gives them over to a debased mind and dishonorable passions (Romans 1:18–32). The enthronement of radical autonomy, claiming the right to define when life is worthy of protection, echoes the serpent's lie: “You will be like God” (Genesis 3:5). What we see is not progress but judicial hardening, the outworking of divine wrath in history as a people turn from their Maker.

As a pastor, I grieve deeply for every woman who feels trapped in desperation, whether by fear, coercion, poverty, abuse, or abandonment. The brokenness of our fallen world presses heavily upon many. To them the church offers not condemnation but compassion, practical help, and the gospel's free offer of forgiveness through Christ's atoning blood. No sin is beyond the reach of His mercy; every repentant sinner finds cleansing and restoration in Him. Yet true compassion never demands silence about what God calls evil, nor approval of what destroys the vulnerable. We are called both to care for women in crisis and to defend the voiceless unborn.

I urge the saints at Honiton ECC—and believers across our land—to respond in fervent prayer:

- Pray for national repentance and for God to grant our lawmakers wisdom to reverse this course.

- Pray for consciences long dulled by compromise to be awakened.

- Pray for the advance of the gospel, the only power that truly transforms hearts and societies from death to life.

- Pray for women facing unplanned pregnancies, that they would find support, hope, and the grace to choose life.

The Lord reigns. He will judge every nation and every deed. “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people” (Proverbs 14:34). In this dark hour, may we at HECC stand resolute, but not silent, faithful to the whole counsel of God, proclaiming Christ crucified as the only hope for sinners and the only foundation for a just society.

We must speak up, and speak out, against the murder that abortion is, even as we trust the One who knit us in the womb to have mercy on our land and to revive His church for His glory.

Soli Deo gloria.

Carl Peet

Pastor,

Honiton Evangelical Congregational Church