Passive euthanasia and easier abortion on MPs' agenda, warns SPUC

Westminster, 15 March 2005 - The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) has added to Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor's comments yesterday that respect for human life is the priority issue for voters at the general election, by warning that the government are today pressing ahead to legalise passive euthanasia before polling day, and that widening access to abortion will be promoted after the election.

Anthony Ozimic, SPUC political secretary, commented: "The political reality is that pro-abortion parliamentarians, of which there is a strong majority, are using the issue of late abortions as a smokescreen for their thinly-disguised agenda. This includes enshrining in law a right to abortion on demand in early pregnancy, of allowing nurses to perform abortions and deregulating chemical abortion procedures. Pro-abortion MPs are not supported by public opinion on these issues.

"Also, the final parliamentary stages of the government's pro-euthanasia Mental Capacity Bill are starting this week. The indications are is that this Bill, which threatens to destroy the Hippocratic tradition of medical ethics in this country, will not be amended to exclude euthanasia by neglect or assisted suicide. We are therefore calling upon anti-euthanasia parliamentarians to vote against the Bill at its Third Reading next week if the Bill's euthanasia nature has not reversed by amendments", concluded Mr Ozimic.