UK hospitals heated by incinerated babies

Callous actions shock nation

by Phil Robinson

Photo: Phil Robinson

While the title of this article may read like something from a horror novel it is unfortunately very much true. The Telegraph¹ has reported that in the United Kingdom bodies of more than 15,500 aborted² and miscarried babies have been burned in National Health Service (NHS) incinerators over the past two years. The babies were incinerated by 27 NHS trusts, of which 10 admitted burning the remains alongside other rubbish and two trusts used the bodies in ‘waste-to-energy’ plants to generate power for heat in hospitals. It was discovered that parents were not consulted about their wishes for the remains of the children.

The practice was uncovered by a UK television documentary series, Dispatches.³

The Telegraph further reported that “One of the country’s leading hospitals, Addenbrooke’s in Cambridge, incinerated 797 babies below 13 weeks gestation at their own ‘waste to energy’ plant. The mothers were told the remains had been ‘cremated’.” And that, “Another ‘waste to energy’ facility at Ipswich Hospital, operated by a private contractor, incinerated 1,101 foetal remains between 2011 and 2013. They were brought in from another hospital before being burned, generating energy for the hospital site.”⁴

Sir Bruce Keogh, NHS Medical Director, has written to all NHS trusts to tell them the practice must stop.

Reactions, vivid descriptions and condemnations to the news have come quickly. Dr Tim Stanley, a columnist for The Telegraph, pointed out, “That’s right—institutions created to protect life are being fuelled by burning the remains of the dead.”⁵ One comment on The Telegraph website described the horrible process succinctly as, “On a journey to be born on the Planet Earth. Torn out of the womb and incinerated.”⁶ And another comment read, “Dear God, what have we become?”⁷

A Holocaust comparison

It did not take long for comparisons to be made with the Nazi Holocaust as well. The Holocaust has been well documented to be based upon an evolutionary understanding of humanity by the Nazi regime in which the concept of the image of God in man (Genesis 1) was firmly removed.

Instead people were placed on an evolutionary tree, and if the branch that Hitler assigned them to wasn’t high enough then they were on the list to be exterminated. One comment on The Telegraph website read, “Heinrich Himmler of the German SS would be so proud— to know that ‘Great’ Britain has now stooped to this level of indecency and barbarism— and in less than 70 years no less!”⁸

Steve Ertelt, writing for Life News, also made the comparison stating, “While the pro-abortion movement frequently condemns pro-life advocates who draw comparisons between abortion and the Holocaust, the report of babies burned to heat UK hospitals is a shocking reminder of the callous way human life was treated by the Nazi regime.”⁹

Abortion, the silent genocide, clearly now has even stronger parallels to the Nazi Holocaust with the incineration of babies’ bodies. Perhaps someday in the future people will line up to mourn and weep at the hospital incinerators as they now do at those in Auschwitz.

Wholly disgusting, but not surprising

Dr Bruce Waltke points out that, “Fundamental to Genesis and the entirety of Scripture is the creation of humanity in the image of God. The expression ‘image of God’ is used uniquely with reference to human beings and so sets them apart from other creatures.”¹⁰ However, “evolution means that there is no basis for seeing humans as more advanced or developed than any other species.”¹¹

So it is not surprising that in our currently evolution-saturated world the sanctity of human life has been forgotten, meaning humans can be murdered and then just incinerated like any other waste item.

The babies were seen only as organic waste, like a tumour or cancerous cells that had been removed from a body. They were given no rights or dignity. Their value was not grasped.

This is not surprising when we consider remarks made by Professor Cathy Warwick, Chief Executive of the Royal College of Midwives. When commenting on mothers inviting friends to view 3D and 4D scans of their children, so that they could be seen in amazing detail, she said, “Does this escalate the thinking held by some that a foetus should have a life of its own before birth and, therefore, have rights of its own? At the moment, UK law allows for the mother to make decisions on behalf of her baby until the baby is born. Using technology in this way seems to have the potential to upset this position and raises the spectrum of women being accused of doing wrong to their foetus, as happens in the USA.”¹²

It is impossible to ignore that it really is a baby, a human being made in the image of God, in the womb, when such technology makes it abundantly clear.

Professor Warwick seems to forget that while the mother carries the baby it has long been understood medically that the baby is an entirely different person, with the mother’s immune system having to have been designed to not attack the baby.

Of course it is doing wrong to murder someone (Exodus 20:13). Babies in the womb should have the same fundamental rights as when they are born.

The Bible is clear that life starts at conception, “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” (Psalm 139:13–16).

The way forward

To deal with the issues raised by the news story, both the initial act of abortion (murder) and then the barbaric disposal method of babies’ bodies, there needs to be a restoration in how humanity understands itself.

Only a clear understanding of the origin of humanity in the creation account in Genesis will be able to do this. It is in Genesis that it is made clear that man was created special, with intrinsic value, in the image of God (Genesis 1:26–29, Genesis 2:7–23). Of course Genesis then goes on to describe the fall of man into sin in the Garden of Eden. Our fallen state and sin is all too apparent when we read of news stories such as this. However the Good News is that God did not leave us in our sin, but sent Jesus to die on the cross, so that his wrath may be appeased and we may be forgiven. Abortion, as with other sin, can be forgiven if repentance is sought before the Creator-Saviour, Jesus Christ (John 1:9).

I would encourage Christians to point women struggling with this issue to Christian counselling services so they can obtain biblical guidance.

However, while the current order of things still stands and the silent genocide, abortion, continues to occur the Bible commands that we speak for those who have no voice, “Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute.” (Proverbs 31:8).