Responding to the death of the terminally-ill Alfie Evans last Saturday, Mike Huckabee, the former Republican governor of Arkansas said: "Maybe he would have died even if the United Kingdom government had allowed his parents to take their own child to Italy to seek other treatment - but we'll never know. Alfie is dead. Government is not God."
Had it been my Megan, Lilah-Liberty or Indy I'm pretty sure that I would have fought as hard - against all the odds if necessary - as Alfie's parents. It's the natural instinct of a parent to do everything they can, exploring every single avenue, to keep their child alive. It's love which drives us all in those circumstances: that sense of owing it to our children to protect them. Even the atheists among us would long for a miracle.
Before Lilah-Liberty was born in October 2009 we had four miscarriages. We saw the beating heart of all four of those children. The news that each of those hearts had stopped beating was a uniquely distressing moment. It never got easier. Each stopped heart was a life lost. Each stopped heart was a boy or girl who wasn't going to be held by us and grow up with us. And even with the three wonderful children we have, there is rarely a week goes by when I don't think of the others. Particularly Conan: he miscarried at 17 weeks and we scattered his ashes on the front lawn of Stormont (Kerri and I met for the first time at the Assembly). On my occasional visits to the place I sometimes still stop at the spot and have a chat with him.
Life is precious. I don't doubt that for one moment. The baby in the womb is precious, too. I don't doubt that for one moment, either. I don't buy into the view that for the first few weeks a pregnancy is just a collection of cells in the womb; some sort of entity that isn't really a human being. That's how life starts. That's how humans are created. The confirmation of a pregnancy is the confirmation that there is life. That's why in most cases the news is greeted with, "Congratulations. When's it due. Get ready for the smelly nappies and the sleepless nights!"
The problem I have - and I think it's a problem many others have, too - is that even bearing in mind what I've just written, I also believe in the legal right to an abortion. A woman cannot be and should not be forced to carry a baby. Even when the pregnancy is a consequence of consensual sex - which the vast majority are - it still strikes me as right that the woman has the ultimate choice and final decision. Yes, she may be making a mistake, the sort of mistake that she'll regret for the rest of her life, but it must be her mistake to make.
Let me go back to Mike Huckabee's line that government is not God. He is right. That's because governments do not regard life as sacred (revered due to sanctity...connected with God or a god or dedicated to a religious purpose and so deserving of veneration). If they did then they wouldn't empower key servants of the state - particularly the various security and intelligence services - to take life; they wouldn't be involved in the arms trade; they wouldn't have death penalties et al (Huckabee authorised 16 executions when he was governor). If they truly regarded life as sacred then no government would permit abortion.
That's not to say that most governments don't regard life as important - maybe even precious. But that's not the same as sacred. Maybe that's why someone like me, an atheist, can have a personal problem with abortion, but doesn't support the right of the state to dictate to a woman and make her choices for her. If she doesn't want an abortion - even when there may be a risk to her or her child - that is her choice. And the state should respect that choice. If she does want an abortion - even when there is no risk to her or her child - that is her choice. And the state should respect that choice.
I understand those who argue that life is sacred and always deserving of protection. But I do not believe that their views should be given a greater importance than mine. It's not a comfortable position I find myself in: nonetheless, it's the position I'm in. The government is not God. God is not the government. Forcing people to act against their own beliefs is wrong. Making key personal choices for them is wrong. Providing them with choice is right. Allowing them to exercise choice is right. Leave the rest to them and their individual conscience.
