Jonathon Van Maren, First Things
Wednesday, November 5, 2025
There is a connection between the twenty-first-century abortion wars and the Inklings of Oxford. Owen Barfield, the philosopher, novelist, and a key influence on both C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, was one of the fifteen founders of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children. SPUC holds the distinction of being “the first group anywhere in the world formed to campaign against legalized abortion,” at least in the twentieth century, and served as a countermovement during the parliamentary discussions leading to the passage of the 1967 Abortion Act.
