ALL who value the life of unborn children have every reason to be concerned about the abortion decriminalisation bill over which David Craven enthuses (Letters, March 27).

Mr Craven is wrong in claiming that the bill would not effect major changes in the application of the 1967 Abortion Act and would not potentially lead to the killing, for any reason whatsoever, of unborn children up to the very moment of birth.

In reality, the bill seeks to strip away two vital bulwarks protecting children from attack in the womb.

These are the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act and the 1929 Infant Life (Preservation) Act. By repealing the latter, abortion would be permitted at any stage, thus including the destruction of children capable of being born alive.

Mr Craven sneers at a correspondent who opposed this extremist bill, dubbing him a victim of hysteria and fake news, but it is he who has not checked his facts.

Here are a couple more: since the 1967 Act came into force, 8.4 million unborn children have lost their lives, the vast majority for transient social reasons. And last year, 201,567 joined that total. That’s equivalent to the entire population of York.

These are not the statistics of a civilised, just and happy society.

Tony Flanagan, Main Street, Kirkby Malzeard