Ah, "compassion." That was one of the arguments for abortion, as I recall, from the 1960s. I was living in New York at the time, and all sorts of flakes from liberal Protestant churches used to float up with petitions based on the "compassionate" need to permit abortion. And guess what - the pitch worked, and they won.
Hence, the slippery slope.
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spiritual leader of the world's Anglicans, will make his first official visit to Pope Benedict on November 23 at the Vatican. Given this news report, he should come prepared for a tongue lashing!
When I see articles like this, I always recall the horrible situation a family friend experienced.
They had a baby that was born with only a brain stem. They knew it would happen, pre-natal exams revealed that the baby was not developing a brain. The doctor, a good Christian man, recommended an abortion. The family refused.
They later came to regret it. After the baby was born, it was like taking care of toadstool. He just laid there with a feeding tube for 18 months before he died. He never cried, never ate, never opened his eyes... it was as if he were a breathing piece of flesh and nothing more. It still creeps me out when I think of it.