Cardinal, British prime minister discuss reopening abortion debate

Published: 2006-06-19

LONDON (CNS) -- Cardinal Keith O'Brien of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, Scotland, has told British Prime Minster Tony Blair that the time had come for a public and parliamentary debate about abortion, said the cardinal's spokesman. Blair responded to the cardinal by admitting there were new grounds to reopen the 1967 Abortion Act, including "some troubling issues" surrounding the age that babies could survive independently outside the mother's womb, the spokesman, Peter Kearney, told Catholic News Service June 19. However, the prime minister, who has voted in favor of abortion throughout his career, stopped short of giving any promises to the cardinal, Kearney added. Under the act, abortion is permitted with the consent of two doctors up to the 24th week of pregnancy, the limit at which a fetus was said to be able to survive if born. Abortion up to birth is permitted for babies with serious handicaps. A study of premature babies conducted last year by the University College Hospital, London, found that most born at 23 or 24 weeks gestation survived. Figures also revealed that about 50 babies each year survive botched abortions in Great Britain.

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