Inset image – Wikimedia Commons: Bishop John Sherrington 2024
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales says it is “deeply alarmed” by two amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill that would decriminalise abortion up to birth.
Archbishop John Sherrington, the Lead Bishop for Life Issues for the Bishops’ Conference, released a statement on 9 June calling on Catholics “to contact their MPs and encourage them to oppose these amendments”.
“Out of compassion for pregnant women and their babies, the Catholic Church believes that the law should offer protection to the unborn and that society should offer support for parents who need it”, the statement said.
It added that the two amendments “would further reduce the protection of unborn children and their mothers”.
MP Tonia Antoniazzi’s NC1 amendment seeks to decriminalise abortion by removing women from the criminal law related to abortion. This would mean that a woman who induced her abortion at home using pills (or any other method) at any stage of pregnancy, including just before natural birth, would not commit a crime.
NC20, tabled by MP Stella Creasy, would remove offences in the Abortion Act, meaning that abortion could be carried out for any reason, including the sex of the baby. There would also be no way to bring an abusive partner who causes the death of an unborn baby to justice.
The two abortion amendments are set to be debated and voted on by MPs on 17 and 18 June. SPUC has slammed both clauses as the greatest threat to unborn children and their mothers since the 1967 Abortion Act.
“There is little support amongst the general public for such an extreme law which entirely overturns the existing framework and totally disregards the humanity of the unborn baby”, the Bishops’ Conference added.
Its statement continued: “Pregnant women and their unborn babies both have inherent dignity, and as such, mothers need to be supported in welcoming new life…
“Keeping abortion within the criminal law provides some level of protection for women and unborn children.”
SPUC is urging all concerned citizens not wanting to see abortion up to birth to lobby their local MP and ask them to oppose and vote against new clauses 1 and 20 to the Crime and Policing Bill.
More information on the amendments and how to oppose them can be found here. Briefings on NC1 and NC20 can be found here, and here, respectively.
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