Archbishop claims abortion has become the easy way out

London, Oct 21 (UNI) Coming down heavily on the British people for the growing number of cases of abortion, the archbishop of Canterbury said the procedure has become a normal practice, rather than being a last resort.

Dr Rowan Williams wrote in an article in the Observer that people are close to slipping to a new ''default position'' on the issue of abortion.

The views come in the wake of the 40th anniversary of the 1967 Abortion Act of Britain being less than a week away.

''There has been an obvious weakening of the feeling that abortion is a last resort in cases of extreme danger or distress.

Nearly 200,000 abortions a year in England and Wales tell their own story.'' He claimed that the growing belief that abortion is essentially a matter of individual decision means it is no longer the kind of major moral choice that should involve a sharing of perspective and judgement.

Noting the way the anti-abortion movement is becoming increasingly vocal, the archbishop wrote ''Paradoxically, the language of foetal rights has strengthened over the past few decades, leading to a real tension with this growing normalisation of abortion.'' UNI