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(LifeSiteNews) — Many of the headlines coming out of the UK this year have been disturbing to say the least. 

In July, the UK elected its first self-described atheist prime minister, Keir Starmer.  

Also in July, widespread rioting after two little girls were stabbed to death in a dance studio in Southport had protestors targeting mosques and calling for a moratorium on immigration. In response, the UK government cracked down hard, prosecuting not only those who had engaged in vandalism and violence, but also those who had merely expressed their sentiments on social media. It was yet another example of the ethnic strife that is bubbling under the surface of English society after decades of mass immigration. 

In October, British army veteran Adam Smith-Connor was convicted for praying silently outside an abortion facility where, two decades previously, his son had been killed. His conviction is the UK’s first modern thoughtcrime prosecution – the court stated that the fact that his head was slightly bowed and his lips were moving indicated “disapproval of abortion.”  

Also in October, a Labour MP put forward a bill that would legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia in the UK. The government is fast-tracking the bill, which will likely come to a vote at the end of November. Several prominent cabinet ministers, including the secretaries of health and justice, have condemned the bill and stated that they plan to vote against it. The health secretary stated that the UK is not ready for euthanasia because the condition of the healthcare system would mean that the “choice” to opt for assisted suicide would be rendered farcical by the lack of alternatives. 

On October 27, Lord David Alton, a member of the House of Lords since 1997, noted that the UK has destroyed millions of unborn lives since 1967: “57 years ago today abortion became legal – to be used only in extremity. Since 1967, the lives of 10,605,611 unborn babies have been ended — 1 British baby lost to abortion every 2 minutes; 31 lives are ended every hour.” 

Finally, this week news outlets reported the story that is foundational to understanding the other stories: 

The average total fertility rate (TFR) – the average number of children born to a woman over her lifetime – was 1.44 children per woman in 2023. It is the lowest value since records began in 1938, new figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show. Some 591,072 live births were recorded – the lowest number since 1977. Figures for 2022 showed the average TFR had declined to 1.49 children per woman, down from 1.55 in 2021.

Greg Ceely, head of population health monitoring at the ONS, said: “Total fertility rates declined in 2023, a trend we have seen since 2010. “Looking in more detail at fertility rates among women of different ages, the decline in fertility rates has been the most dramatic in the 20-24 and 25-29 age groups.” This latest data follows analysis commissioned by Sky News showing the UK’s fertility rate is falling faster than any other G7 country. Research by thinktank the Centre for Progressive Policy (CPP) discovered the fertility rate has dropped by 18.8%.

It is a simple fact that nations without children have given up on the future. The West now imports huge numbers of immigrants in order to make up for the children that Westerners have chosen not to have by using contraception or killed via abortion (as Lord Alton pointed out, over 10 million babies – a butchered future). Countries cannot assimilate massive numbers of immigrants, and thus they either balkanize or become increasingly roiled by ethnic tensions and dueling loyalties. In order to keep a lid on these tensions, governments crack down on dissent of all kinds, as we have seen in the UK and elsewhere.  

Finally, our welfare states are based on the idea that generations of taxpayers will pay into systems that can then care for the vulnerable, elderly, and frail. But if we decide not to have children, this unspoken arrangement collapses. Thus, right on schedule, nations that have adopted the contraceptive mentality and legalized abortion begin to legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide after several decades of demographic collapse. As we have seen in countries like Canada, broken, badly-funded healthcare systems (government funding for euthanasia is mandatory, funding for palliative care is optional) increasingly pressure people into accepting lethal injections. 

Elon Musk is correct when he states that demographic collapse means civilizational death. We should take note while we still can. 

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Jonathon’s writings have been translated into more than six languages and in addition to LifeSiteNews, has been published in the National Post, National Review, First Things, The Federalist, The American Conservative, The Stream, the Jewish Independent, the Hamilton Spectator, Reformed Perspective Magazine, and LifeNews, among others. He is a contributing editor to The European Conservative.

His insights have been featured on CTV, Global News, and the CBC, as well as over twenty radio stations. He regularly speaks on a variety of social issues at universities, high schools, churches, and other functions in Canada, the United States, and Europe.

He is the author of The Culture War, Seeing is Believing: Why Our Culture Must Face the Victims of Abortion, Patriots: The Untold Story of Ireland’s Pro-Life Movement, Prairie Lion: The Life and Times of Ted Byfield, and co-author of A Guide to Discussing Assisted Suicide with Blaise Alleyne.

Jonathon serves as the communications director for the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform.

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