UK Conscience

The recent high court case of Tony Nicklinson has again brought the question of life and it's value to the UK's attention. I'm not planning to comment on the specifics of what is an undoubtedly complicated case, more the issues that it arises.
The case is seen as something of a legal watershed, determining whether to allow the lawful and deliberate killing of someone in the UK. It is expected the case will take weeks to sift through the complexities of how to go about making such a decision, and rightly so, this is obviously no small matter and many will have strong opinions on either side of the case.
What has occurred to me, listening to various viewpoints, is that the strength of opinion and intensity of discussion show's the UK surely does still value life.
Yet the UK has been allowing lawful killing since 1967, in similar circumstances. When a fetus is shown to be carrying a defect, it is lawful to kill it. When a pregnancy is unexpected, and out of sync with another individuals life plan, it is not only legally, but socially acceptable to end a pregnancy and kill a baby. Or even as we have learned recently, when a child is the wrong gender.
I am encouraged by the current discussion caused by the case of Tony Nickolson, if only because it show's the UK still value's life, and does not entirely, find ending a life a straightforward issue. Perhaps this moral dilemma currently in our newspapers and other broadcast media, will cause some to re-visit the issue of abortion, and ask again if we are comfortable as a nation to allow 200,00 lawful killings every year.