Howard’s Abortion Views Gain Catholic Favour for Election

Following the address of Michael Howard - the leader of UK Conservative party - on abortion last weekend, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, the head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, responded positively to Howard’s effort in bringing the abortion issue back to the public once again.

In an interview with Cosmopolitan magazine published yesterday, Howard expressed his concerns over the existing law on abortion, which allows women to abort "on demand". He proposed to cut the legal time limit for late abortions from 24 weeks to 20 weeks in a bid to tackle the causal trend towards abortion across Britain. The address from Howard comes as a matter for conscience rather than party policy.

Meanwhile, Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, complimented Howard in his pastoral letter to his six-million flock in England and Wales, urging Catholics to question parliamentary candidates on six key policy issues ahead of the next general election in May.

The Catholic Bishop’ Conference of England and Wales clarified that it will not recommend a particular party to believers, but it advises Catholics to look at the party policies on education, criminal justice, refugees and migrants and the global common good. Additionally, to examine the candidates’ attitudes on marriage and life issues are vital.

"Abortion, for Catholics, is a very key issue, we are totally opposed to it. The policy supported by Mr Howard is one that we would also commend, on the way to a full abandonment of abortion," stated Cardinal O'Connor.

"It is very important that this debate has been opened into the public arena, both in the lead-up to and after the election."

In the letter, Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor also reiterated the Church’s rejection of cloning of human embryos and euthanasia, giving warning that efforts may be made in the next Parliament to legalise "mercy killing".

An American election atmosphere appeared to be emerging within the UK as abortion and many more other ethical controversial issues are being brought to the centre of the debate in the run up to the election.

In the last US election, John Kerry, the Catholic that represented the Democrat party, won thousands of votes from his country’s 50 million Catholics as he suggested that the US government do more for the poor and the environment which he told are the very basics of the practice of the Catholic faith.

Traditionally, the Catholic bishops of England and Wales issued their general election letter advising their flock on how to cast their vote. The positive comments of Cardinal O-Connor this time are expected to gain Catholic favour towards Conservative Party.

However, so far the bishops serving the 700,000 Catholics in Scotland or the 850,000 Catholics in Northern Ireland have not been given guidance concerning the election.

Cardinal O’Connor has signalled a break with traditional backing for the Labour Party in the letter, "There has been a notion in the past that Catholics would be more in support of the Labour Party because they were working-class people who felt that the Labour Party stood for many of their needs."

"Now I'm not so sure that will be quite so true today. The Labour party has developed."

Many doubt if it is proper for churches to intervene in politics and the election, but Cardinal Murphy -O’Connor said, "Sometimes people say religion and politics do not mix and they should not mix. Religion is about the love of God and the love of our neighbour. It is clearly the second of those where religion and politics do mix."

In fact, the British politicians seem to have learnt a lesson from the previous US election and have started many campaigns in order to gather support from faith groups. The Prime Minister Tony Blair will address 200 members of the Christian evangelical group Faithworks next week in a lecture on how the church can create "a more trusting society".