NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER FOR LIFE
2024 prayer themes
We have outlined 3 themes for prayer:
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1: For unity and increased reach for the UK pregnancy support scene
Update:
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Pregnancy centres around the country continue to work hard to provide compassionate support and practical help for women facing unplanned pregnancy or struggling with pregnancy/child loss concerns.
Also see Additional Infomation.
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What would we like to pray about?
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That when women go online, or ask for help with an unplanned pregnancy, it would be easy to find and make contact with a pregnancy support centre.
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That there would be stronger links between pregnancy support centres and local churches.
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That God would call volunteers to make themselves available for this important work.
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For protection, encouragement, resilience & provision for local pregnancy support centres.
2: That UK churches would catch the vision
Update:
A group supporting local pregnancy centres held an exhibition stand at the 'Awaken' Christian conference to raise awareness within the church, and during 2023 a trustee of the same group spoke on 'The Unborn Human' at the Keswick convention.
As an example of church involvement, a local church have partnered with a pregnancy advice centre and a housing charity this year to establish a 3 bed hostel to provide safe accommodation for vulnerable women at any stage of pregnancy.
Intercessors for Britain wrote an open letter to the UK church warning of judgement coming to our nation highlighting 3 areas where the church has not spoken up, and one of these was abortion.
In recent conversations with local churches about whether they could do something to support the work of a local pregnancy centre, most feel they are already busy with community outreach and do not have the capacity to take on more.
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What would we like to pray about?
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Blessing and encouragement for churches, their leaders and congregations who have spoken and acted in support of vulnerable women and unborn children.
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A move of the Holy Spirit in our churches to enable us to speak up for the most vulnerable whilst offering compassion & help to women affected by abortion.
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That each local church in the UK would have a qualified pregnancy helper who could support women facing unplanned pregnancy or following miscarriage or abortion.
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An opening of the eyes of the UK church to the reality of abortion and the sheer scale of damage being done both to vulnerable women and the unborn children themselves – that they would think again about how this compares in severity to the other causes they are involved with.
3: The UK political scene
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Update
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Just before the general election this year there were 5 proposed amendments to the criminal justice bill - 2 to decriminalise abortion, and 3 to give more protection to unborn children (proposed by Sir Liam Fox, Flick Drummond and Caroline Ansell). Voting on these amendments did not take place as Parliament was dissolved for the election.
In the general election many MPs who had previously voted in favour of life lost their seats including the 3 MPs mentioned above. Over half of the MPs who had been members of Christians in Parliament lost their seats or stepped down before the election.
Decriminalisation of abortion:
Pro-abortion MPs Stella Creasy and Diana Johnson kept their seats with comfortable majorities. They have previously proposed the complete decriminalisation of abortion and are likely to do so in the new parliament. Prime Minister Kier Starmer is likely to support them in this, as he has consistently voted in support of abortion, and has also promised to make time in Parliament for legalising assisted suicide.
Buffer zones:
Last year an amendment to the Government's Public Order Bill (intended to impose buffer zones around abortion clinics) was approved by MPs by 297 votes to 110. By the time of the general election this year the legislation had not actually been acted on, but the new Labour government have said they will enact the legislation as soon as possible.
The intention of the legislation was to prevent clients being approached by 'protestors' - this would mean that clients could no longer be offered last minute help at the clinic (which we know has been accepted by some clients in the past), and that people could be arrested for silently praying at a clinic.
Isabel Vaughan-Spruce (co-director of March for Life UK) was arrested in November 2022 for silently praying outside a Birmingham abortion clinic which was actually shut at the time. She was alleged to be in breach of a Public Spaces Protection Order imposed by the local council (originally intended to prevent anti-social behaviour). She was later awarded £13,000 compensation from West Midlands Police after complaining of unlawful arrest, assault and a breach of her human rights. The Police admitted no liability.
Guidance issued by the previous Conservative government stated: “Silent prayer, being the engagement of the mind and thought in prayer towards God, is protected as an absolute right under the Human Rights Act 1998 and should not, on its own, be considered to be an offence under any circumstances.” The Labour government is likely to remove this guidance.
Also see Additional Information.
What would we like to pray about?
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That the remaining MPs and Lords who have previously voted in favour of life would continue to take a stand and would have influence greater than their number would suggest. Also, for unity between politicians of different parties on this issue.
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That constituents would contact their MPs to explain the risks to vulnerable women and their unborn children of changing the law to remove current protections, and that MPs would take these concerns seriously.
That the influence of vocal pro-abortion lobbying groups would be reduced. -
That pregnancy support centres would be valued in our communities, and that they would still be able to offer women considering abortion the hope and support they need.
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