William Wilberforce's Great Grandson Says if Alive Today Wilberforce Would Fight Abortion

LifeSiteNews ^ | 3/31/08 | Fr. Gerard Wilberforce

[wagglebee]

Editor's Note:  The following letter by Fr Gerard Wilberforce, a Catholic priest in Exeter, who is the great grandson of the famed William Wilberforce is reproduced with the permission of Independent Catholic News.

By Fr. Gerard Wilberforce

March 31, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - I am writing as the great great grandson of William Wilberforce, who campaigned vigorously for the ending of the transatlantic slave trade in 1807, which ultimately paved the way for the abolition of slavery itself throughout the entire British Empire in 1833.

I am often asked what would be the campaigns Wilberforce would be fighting if he were alive in 21st century Britain. I believe that there would be a number of different issues ­ among them human trafficking and the scourge of drugs. But almost certainly at the top of the list, would be the issue of abortion.

As the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill comes before Parliament over the next few weeks, the opportunity presents itself to amend the abortion Act. With the number of abortions having reached 200,000 per year in the UK alone, the time is right to tighten up the law that was designed to protect women by ending illegal abortion, but never to allow such a high degree of deprived life.

There are great similarities between the status of the foetus and the status of African slaves two centuries ago. Slaves were considered a commodity to do with whatever the vested interests of the day decided. Today, in our desire to play God in our embryology experimentation, with all its' unfulfilled promises of miracle cures, and our decision to abort unwanted children, we are no better that those slave traders who put their interests and world view higher than they placed the sanctity and value of human life.

Most people at the time didn't believe the evil of slavery could ever be defeated, as so much of the economy at the time was dependent on the trade. It's easy for us to think that is the case today with abortion, but I believe William Wilberforce would not take such a view.

Whilst our hearts go out to those who have chosen abortion, there should now be much greater emphasis on the alternatives that exist. Many of us would like to see far more support those who have made such a significant and difficult decision ­ but whilst we recognise the trauma many women have gone through, we also have a duty to 'Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves' (Proverbs 31).

The Psalmist says 'My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.'

With abortions in the UK reaching 600 a day, it seems to me that the 'secret place', is one of the most dangerous places to be in modern day Britain.

As with my great ancestor, the battle took many years, even decades. But now, with the passage of time we look back in horror at how we devalued human life. I truly believe we will look back in years to come, repent and ask forgiveness for what we let happen to the unborn child.

There is something deeply depressing about a society in which abortion is so easy, yet alternatives such as adoption are made to appear so difficult.

[wagglebee]

There is something deeply depressing about a society in which abortion is so easy, yet alternatives such as adoption are made to appear so difficult.

Very true!

[wagglebee]

Pro-Life Ping

[wagglebee]

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[bmwcyle]

He also wouldn’t like Obama.

[CounterCounterCulture]

There’s no doubt the spirit that drove Wilberforce to ban the slave trade and ultimately slavery itself is the same force that drives today’s civil rights activists who seek to abolish legalized abortion.

[Brad from Tennessee]

Wilberforce also founded the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals which was the forerunner of the ASPCA and the Humane Society.

[wagglebee]

If memory serves me, it was the various SPCA organizations that first fought for child labor laws.

[metmom]

Great!

[metmom]

ping

[AFPhys]

With abortions in the UK reaching 600 a day, it seems to me that the ‘secret place’, is one of the most dangerous places to be in modern day Britain.
-—<>-—<>-—<>-—<>-—<>-—

This sentence got me to thinking in a way I hadn’t before.

We have lost 4,000 soldiers in Iraq. Estimating that we’ve had an average of 125,000 soldiers there for the last five years, representing 625,000 man-years, the expectation of death in Iraq for our soldiers has been about one per 156 years of service in that extremely dangerous environment.

Through abortion, we lose 1.2million/yr. About 4.3million babies spend an average of 9 months/yr in that specially-created perfect environment, representing about 3.3million man-years. The expectation of death from abortion is about one death per 2.7 years of service in that now extremely dangerous environment.

Summary: With our abortion crazy culture, it is now 58 times more dangerous to be in a mother’s womb than to be a soldier serving in Iraq.

[cpforlife.org]

"William Wilberforce's Great Grandson Says if Alive Today Wilberforce Would Fight Abortion"

ABSOLUTELY.

" One dark day in January of 1973, SATAN donned judicial robes! Robes flowing, gavel in hand, he swept onto the floor of the United States Supreme Court. He presided over the most atrocious travesty of justice that ever took place, and he declared - we now have the 'right' to murder the most innocent, in what should be the safest place in the universe for them! And since then, tens of millions of babes have been assassinated in their own mothers' wombs! The darkness indeed grows deeper."

Fr. John Corapi S.O.L.T.

Audio Clip here

IMO - This may be the most powerful, and accurate, 52 seconds of speech about the American holocaust ever spoken.

A journalist once asked Mother Teresa what was the greatest plight in the world. She replied "The greatest destroyer of peace today is the crime against the innocent unborn baby". Abortion is the destroyer of the most intimate human relationships; that of the love of a mother toward her baby and the most intimate conjugal love between husband and wife. Abortion pits a mother against her baby and women against men. The first sound a baby hears is the heart beat of her mother. There is no greater human bond of loving sacrifice than that of a baby in her mother's womb. This love has been the foundation of life and what is truly beautiful in this world. Our Lord asked 'Could a mother forget the child of her womb?' It has been providential that medicinal cures have been found in the tear drops of mothers and the cells of the placenta. Pray for the end of this holocaust. A baby should hear the loving heartbeat of her mother, not that of a suction machine that will tear her apart."

[wagglebee]

American abortuaries kill as many Americans every thirty hours as have died in Iraq.

American abortuaries kill as many Americans every year as have died in all the wars America has fought combined.

[cpforlife.org]

“The most dangerous place in the world is in the womb.”
—Cardinal Jaime Sin, Archbishop of Manila, Philippines

[colorado tanker]

Most people at the time didn't believe the evil of slavery could ever be defeated, as so much of the economy at the time was dependent on the trade. It's easy for us to think that is the case today with abortion, but I believe William Wilberforce would not take such a view.

I need to remember this when I am discouraged by the lack of progress to stop this barbarism. Only great faith could have sustained Wilberforce over the decades it took to finally defeat slavery.

[Brad from Tennessee]

Thanks. I'll check that out. A few weeks ago I saw “Amazing Grace” on pay-per-view, a movie about Wilberforce's long campaign against slavery.

[MountainFlower]

AMEN! Father in heaven, bless the moves in the UK to undo the evils of abortion. Strengthen Your children there who are in this battle, raise them up, turn things in the flesh in answer to the cries of Your children. Father, grant favor, where none seems possible, turning hearts and minds to Your leading that the abortion Act in the UK will become undone. We Praise You Father for being a faithful Father, who keeps His Word, hearing Your children and knowing our hearts. We ask this all in Jesus Name, Amen!

[MountainFlower]

PING!

[tuckrdout]

I just watched the Movie, “Amazing Grace”...and had the same conviction! I KNOW he would have fought Abortion, and he renewed in me the desire to keep up the fight!

As another famous Brit said, “Never give up! Never give in!”

[Lesforlife]

For those who enjoyed the movie, Amazing Grace, the book
is superlative.

Far more history than the movie was able to cover.

Highly recommended!!

[Lexinom]

Of course he would! This is a no-brainer for the pro-lifer.

What amazes me is how few see the stark parallels between abortion and slavery.