Lord Alton, Britain's Pro-Life Record, and the General Election

Lord Alton of Liverpool, the great pro-life champion in the British parliament, is currently visiting Rome.

Last Friday night he gave a very interesting address to the Venerable English College.

As expected, he made some powerful points - here are just a few which stuck in my mind:

1) The UK government continues to use taxpayer's money to fund abortions worldwide, including giving millions of pounds to the UNFPA and others - not only to pay for abortions in developed countries, but also to uphold China's one-child policy. (He showed case studies of Chinese parents forced to have their children aborted using the pressure of torture and other means).

2) 600 abortions take place everyday in the UK, 40 million unborn babies are killed worldwide every year.

3) In the UK, unborn babies with disabilities can be aborted right up to birth.

4) Gordon Brown used a three line whip (in other words, all Labour MPs were forced to vote) to pass the Human Fertilization and Embryology Bill which included allowing scientists to conduct research on animal-hybrid embryos - despite notable scientists saying they didn't know what the benefits of such experiments would be. (Interestingly even Lord Steele, who was instrumental in legalizing abortion in the UK in the 1960s, opposed the Bill, and has opposed legalized euthanasia). Britain is the only country in the world to have legislated in favour of such research.

5) Around 3000 euthanasia deaths take place every year in Holland, 1000 of which are involuntary - i.e. occur without the consent of the patient. He said that showed how, once legalized, euthanasia can easily be used to kill elderly patients against their will.

6) Something the pagans noticed which was different about the first Christians was that "they didn't kill their offspring."

What I particularly like about Lord Alton is that he is pro-life not just on the three key issues of abortion, embryology and euthanasia, but also passionately speaks out on other social justice issues, whether they be concern for the poorest of the poor in Calcutta or defenceless civilians caught up in the conflict in Darfur. Quoting the late Archbishop Worlock, he stressed that as Christians we should be concerned about protecting life "From the Womb to the Tomb".

I asked him afterwards who he thought was the most pro-life candidate in the general election. He said that the position of Cameron, Clegg and Brown is not as important as that of the constituency candidate, so when voting it's better to find out each prospective MP's position (he didn't like the TV debates for this reason - the electorate aren't voting for a president but for their local MP).

But when pressed, he said that although none of the party leaders score well on pro-life issues, Cameron is best because he insists each issue is a matter of individual conscience while the others take a more rigid party line.