Let us henceforth kill the term “pro-life lobby”. Because the life they are pro is wholly abstract. It is cellular, silent, pure, uncomplicated by the messy business of existence, makes no demands, has no voice. A group so tenderly fixated with every amniotic smile and embryonic toe, bails out at the birth canal. Protect the unborn — but the born can go to hell.

Mike Parson, the governor of Missouri, aspires to lead the “most pro-life state” in the US but he isn’t talking about dragging it up from 41st place in America’s healthcare rankings. In Alabama, senators voting to stop termination of deformed foetuses aren’t pumping cash into supporting a consequent wave of disabled kids. Most abortion is driven by poverty, yet pro-lifers prefer