Prayer Vigil for Life: 2025
Thank you to everyone who attended the March for Life UK event on Sunday 27th April in Victoria Square, Birmingham. We gathered together to remember the implementation of the Abortion Act and all those lives which have been ended or impacted by this legislation over the last 57 years. This event particularly focused on our need for God not only in the current battle for life but also in the healing needed by so many women and men across our nation.
Those present were reminded that although we know around a quarter of a million children are aborted each year, we don’t really know the exact data as it isn’t recorded. Frequently pills are sent out to women and girls yet we don’t know who takes the pills or whether they are taken at all. So many little lives are snuffed out without so much as a mark on a spreadsheet to record their all too brief existence. This made it all the more important that the day when this began didn’t pass by unmarked.
Three Christian, religious leaders shared some thoughts with the crowd who were present:
The first speech of the evening was from Bishop Tim Menezes from the Archdiocese of Birmingham. Bishop Tim spoke of intolerance shown towards pro-lifers in today’s society whether they are being discriminated against because of their prayers or being denied equal air time with those who’d call themselves ‘pro-choice’. Bishop Tim then shared his concerns at how so called freedoms in society are affecting our behaviour – how the ‘Availability of the morning after pill free of charge at chemists seems to give peace of mind but it has the possibly unintended consequence of separating out the potential for irresponsible or even coercive behaviour and its unintended consequences’.
After the first hymn we then heard from Dr Aaron Edwards an evangelical theologian from Sheffield. Dr Aaron addressed the ‘reactions men have faced, will face and to some extent must face, if they are to challenge abortion in a feminist saturated climate like ours’. Dr Aaron spoke with passion about William Carey, an 18th century missionary who had the courage to stand against the barbaric custom of widow burning in India. Despite his beliefs being contrary to their culture William eventually succeeded in outlawing their deadly practice, giving hope for those opposing abortion today.
Lastly, the crowd heard from Fr Sean Gough who is now known for having to go to court to clear his name over a bumper sticker on his car that read ‘unborn lives matter’. Fr Sean, who is part of the Rachel’s Vineyard post-abortion healing ministry, shared his thoughts on the notable day of how controversial even a peaceful prayer for life has become, referencing his own attempted prosecution for praying silently in an abortion buffer zone. Fr Sean shared about the grief he witnesses when ministering to those wounded by abortion and reminded those lisPrayer Vigil fopr tening of the need for compassion ‘If we only speak about the dignity of life without offering healing’ he said ‘we risk closing the doors of mercy that God Himself wants wide open’.
