A CHURCH service is being held in East Lancashire to mark the 40th anniversary of the Abortion Act coming into force.

The Bishop of Burnley, the Right Rev John Goddard will lead a 'service of hope, healing and remembrance' in the town's St Andrew's Church, on October 28.

Church leaders, representing congregations across Blackburn, Burnley and Hyndburn, say the service will be "an opportunity for us all to come before God with our feelings about abortion, the tragic statistics that were never envisaged in 1967, and in commemoration of the lives cut short."

Anglican, Roman Catholic, and Orthodox Churches, and the Evangelical Alliance will all be represented at the service at the Colne Road church.

Service organiser Peter Jackson said: "We will all be united in our worship and intentions for this service, as we, the Church, show repentance for the choices we have made in this land, praying for God's mercy on our nation and his healing of our attitudes.

"We in the Church of England share in the responsibility for the enactment of the Abortion Bill, as our Lord Bishops were part of that process."

The service will offer a welcome to people who have personal experience of abortion, and their families, along with medical professionals.