British bishops launch campaign to oppose abortion amendments

Published: 2007-12-21

LONDON (CNS) -- The Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales has launched a campaign to mobilize Catholic voters against moves in Parliament to liberalize the 1967 Abortion Act. More than 5,000 priests were sent "parish resource" packs from their bishops Dec. 20. The bishops want Catholics to start lobbying lawmakers immediately to build up opposition to reforms likely to be introduced through the Human Fertilization and Embryology Bill. Archbishop Peter Smith of Cardiff, Wales, said that with more than 200,000 abortions in England and Wales in 2006 the public had begun to grow uneasy about the abortion law, and that according to opinion polls an estimated 80 percent of people wanted to see the number of abortions reduced. Archbishop Smith is chairman of the English and Welsh bishops' Department for Christian Responsibility and Citizenship. In the resource packs, he advised Catholics writing to their elected representatives to "stress what is accepted by most people in this country: that abortion is always tragic, that many women regret the decision, that it should be properly informed, and that we should be trying to make abortion rarer."

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