To what extent is there a silence in regards to the issue of abortion within the contemporary evangelical church in the UK?

In 2016, then chief executive, Cathy Warwick attempted to sign the Royal College of Midwives to a campaign orchestrated by The British Pregnancy Advisory Service, the largest abortion provider in the UK. The aim of the campaign was to decriminalise abortion. This campaign received significant backlash from a proportion of the midwives, making it headline news. Among other concerns, decriminalisation would effectively terminate the regulatory framework surrounding abortion. This would include the 24 week limit, allowing for abortions to take place right up until birth. In light of the developments with regards to the pro-abortion agenda, one may ask “what, if any, is the response of the evangelical church?” Therefore, the aim of this thesis seeks to answer the question “To what extent is there a silence in regards to the issue of abortion within the contemporary evangelical church in the UK?”. Whilst drawing from an extensive review of historical, theological and ethical literature, the final chapter contains a unique empirical research endeavour demonstrating how one evangelical organisation, namely the Evangelical Alliance, has engaged with the issue of abortion. The goal of this final chapter is to offer a verifiable indicator as to if and why a silence may exist more broadly in UK evangelicalism. Ultimately the findings from this thesis revealed that the issue of abortion is not a top priority for contemporary evangelical leaders in the UK, this despite previous calls for the issue to be at the very top of their agenda. As demonstrated in the research, reasons for this apathy vary. However, one potential root cause is an unfamiliarity with a robust evangelical theological method. Therefore, this thesis offers a recommendation for evangelical leaders and churches to start discussing evangelical theological method as a precursor to the discussion of abortion.