The Archbishop of Canterbury has joined the debate regarding whether abortion should be raised as a main issue for debate in the upcoming general election. Rev Rowan Williams has said that it must be ensured that the issue is not made partisan, but has also voiced his clear opposition to abortion, and has stated that politicians should not be allowed to back-shelve the issue indefinitely.

A growing concern has arisen in the UK over how easy it has become to get an abortion, and to this Williams said, "In the country at large, not least among young people, there is a groundswell of distaste about it."

Last week, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor praised the views expressed by opposition leader Michael Howard to reduce the final date for a foetus to be terminated from 24 to 20 weeks.

In response to this, the Church of England has now projected its views. Even though the current Church of England stance is that the laws regarding abortions should be applied much more strictly, an absolute ban has not been called for. However, it now appears as if Rev William’s views are more conservative than this.

Williams reported, "For a large majority of Christians - not only Roman Catholics, and including [me] - it is impossible to regard abortion as anything other than the deliberate termination of a human life."

In response to some saying that the current focus on the issue will lead to an "American-style" furore, Williams said, "The idea that raising the issues here is the first step towards a theocratic tyranny or a capitulation to some Neanderthal Christian right is alarmist nonsense. The plain fact is that no party has made, or is likely to make, commitments on this matter as part of a set of its electoral pledges. No party has given the least indication that it would seek anything but a free vote on any related question. But - a large but - all the party leaders have admitted in various ways that they are far from happy with our abortion law as it stands."

Williams pointed out that the current rise in concern over the issue had arisen from the figures showing increasing numbers of abortions in the UK, as well as great strides scientifically that have indicated that the foetus may have a greater sense of pain that previously imagined.

"The trend is inexorably towards a sharper recognition of the foetus as a natural candidate for 'rights' of some kind. In light of this, it is a lot harder to reduce the issue to an individual's right to choose. And this is not something said primarily by patriarchal clerics, but increasingly by women, and young women at that," said the Archbishop.

Williams continued, "Granted this cannot be an election issue in the sense of being a matter of manifesto policy, what sort of an issue is it going to be? Where and when can our legislators as a body think through where we are and what needs to be taken into consideration about this?"

In conclusion the Archbishop of Canterbury said, "It would be a real failure if agreeing that it was not an electoral issue provided an alibi for taking it seriously as a public issue."