Catholic church: Attitudes need changing
Tuesday, 23 Oct 2007 13:17
Attitudes towards abortion need to be changed to reduce the number of terminations carried out each year, the Catholic church has said.
Cardinal Keith O'Brien and Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, heads of the Catholic church in Scotland and England and Wales respectively, said greater efforts need to be made to ensure women are given support for pro-life decisions.
Sexual relations within the context of marriage also need to be promoted, they said in an open letter sent 40 years after abortion was legalised in Britain.
"The 1967 Act was intended to solve the problem of illegal abortion, on the basis that it was a major cause of death in pregnant women," they wrote.
"Yet our countries now perform nearly 200,000 abortions every year. We have one of the most liberal abortion laws in Europe with abortion up to 24 weeks and abortion in the case of disability (and on some other grounds) up to birth.
"Whatever our religious creed or political conviction, abortion on this scale can only be a source of distress and profound anguish for us all."
