Click on the names to see our full dossier on each group
Catholics for a Free Choice (CFFC) This group was set up by and continues to be funded and promoted by pro-abortion campaigners to undermine the Catholic Church's opposition to abortion. Its leading members are not practicing Catholics, and it has few links even with dissident Catholic groups or theologians (though feminist-influenced groups tend to be committed to abortion, and link their websites to CFFC). The rhetoric of 'choice' is badly chosen, as they oppose the right of doctors to refuse to carry out abortions, and they oppose giving women with crisis pregnancies information or counselling which includes anything about alternatives to abortion.
All-Party Parliamentary Pro-Life Group (APPPLG)/ Passion for Life: The APPPLG is the officially recognised Parliamentary 'Group' campaigning, supposedly, against abortion, euthanasia and so on. Unsurprisingly, it is dominated by Catholic Members of Parliament. It has come as a shock to discover, on closer examination, that the individual views of officers of the APPPLG are not consistently pro-life, and that this ambivalence has found its way into their policy in Parliament, and in the campaign materials produced by a lobbying group, Passion for Life, which the APPPLG set up. Typically, officers of the APPPLG do not oppose legal abortion in principle: they tend to the view that there is simply 'too much abortion'. The Passion for Life campaign postcards, which were distributed in Catholic churches, included the slogan 'Abortion should be rare', an astonishing claim for a 'pro-life' group to make.
The APPPLG and Passion for life can be criticised on pro-life grounds; its members can also be criticised as Catholic politicians, who appear as such in the Catholic Directory, who are clearly dissenting from the teaching of the Church: see below.
Only the most prominent are listed here.
Claire Curtis-Thomas is 'not against abortion'.
Ann Widdecombe accepts IVF.
John Gummer supported the Civil Partnerships Act
Tony Blair is anti-Catholic in almost every possible way
Ruth Kelly refused to vote against the bill to allow human-animal hybrids
4 comments:
At Mass on Sunday and the retired Father of our Parish said Mass because our usual Priest was away. He took the opportunity to remind us that the Abortion figures are going up. I was amazed to hear a couple of tuts of disapproval from two "Middle Aged" ladies in front of me. On the way out they complained that "it's that type of thing which scares away the young people".
No offense to anyone who was a teenager in the 60's and remains true to the Core Values of the Church but it seems that it is this particular Generation who have caused us so many problems. I think the task is to try and bridge the gap between Grandparents and Grandchildren, I take my young kids to Mass but I would say that my Faith is closer to that of my Grandfather who seen The Church as being "A people set apart or a people of God"
Rant over (Sorry)
A. Ross
Scotland
The inclusion of Ruth Kelly on the list seems to verge on defamation. "Refus[ing] to vote" on a matter is not the same as voting for something intrinsically immoral, and it certainly doesn't amount to dissent from Catholic teaching. Was St Thomas More a "dissenter" for refusing to speak out on the matter of Henry's supremacy until his fate was already sealed? I don't regard her actions as heroic - she should have resigned - but I don't think you should lump her with Blair et al.
Ruth Kelly's actions were pathetic and hypocritical. Click on her name to see more. Hardly a 'Thomas More' situation - no one is going to cut off her head. Cutting off her housing allowance is more to the point - clearly a terrifying prospect for the poor dear.
If you checked your facts and even looked up Theyworkforyou.com you will find that Ruth Kelly was one of 16 Labour mps to rebel and vote against the HFE Bill in October 2008!
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