SPUC welcomes bishops' pro-life statement

Westminster, 22 March 2001--The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) has welcomed the focus on the sanctity of life in the English and Welsh Catholic bishops' pre-election statement.

Paul Tully, SPUC general secretary, said: "The bishops' advice is very timely. It is balanced, measured and has been argued from Christian principles of charity and justice. The bishops make it abundantly clear that voters must act out of concern for the weakest and most vulnerable members of society, and not out of self interest.

"The statement is a significant document which will carry weight with Christian voters across many denominations and cannot be ignored by politicians.

"It raises three central issues which are highly relevant to Britain and Britain's role in the world, namely: marriage and the family, the right to life and poverty."

Vote for the Common Good is published today by the Catholic bishops' conference of England and Wales. The document's section on human life is its most explicit and prescriptive part. The section states: "Catholic electors need to discover the views of their local candidates on these fundamental issues [abortion, embryo research and cloning, euthanasia], which directly involve the intentional destruction of human life."

Vote for the Common Good can be found on the worldwide web at http://www.tasc.ac.uk/cc/resource/vcg/vcg.htm.