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Bishops launch national anti-abortion campaign

Catholic bishops have begun a new national anti-abortion campaign aimed at promoting the sacredness of human life.

Next Sunday is to be marked in all parish churches in both the Republic and Northern Ireland as a special day for sermons on the theme of 'Day for Life' 2007.

In a statement issued last night at the end of their annual October meeting in Maynooth, the bishops announced that they have joined forces with the English, Welsh and Scottish bishops to focus public opinion in both islands on the importance of protecting all human life.

The statement made no reference to Monday's controversial attack by a Church of Ireland bishop on the legislature for not addressing the abortion issue.

In a sermon at the opening of the law term, the Bishop of Cashel and Ossory, Michael Burrows, accused politicians of displaying "systemic spinelessness'' in failing to enact legislation in the 15 years since the Supreme Court ruling on the 'X' abortion case.

But the bishops condemned the recent decision by Amnesty International to support access to abortion "in limited circumstances". While expressing their "sensitivity" to the personal distress experienced by women in crisis pregnancy situations, the bishops criticised Amnesty for its "failure to recognise life as the most fundamental of human rights."

However, the bishops expressed their support for the membership of Amnesty International's Irish Section for not favouring this change in policy, and for its continuing commitment not to campaign for abortion in any context.

The bishops also noted that the thirtieth anniversary of the foundation of CURA, the Church's crisis pregnancy agency, afforded Catholics "an opportunity" to focus their thoughts on the sacredness of human life.

"An equal concern for the welfare of both the mother and her unborn child distinguishes the particular contribution which CURA makes to crisis pregnancy counselling, and which is of such importance for the common good of our society," the bishops said.

Commenting on the new requirements for the civil registration of marriages, which come into force on November 5, the bishops said that these would not change the church requirements for couples getting married

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