Catholic Pressure on embryo bill increases

Three Roman Catholic Cabinet Ministers — Des Browne, Ruth Kelly and Paul Murphy — are causing alarm within the Labour Party because of their reluctance to support the Government’s flagship legislation, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill.

Labour's Chief Whip, Geoff Hoon, has told the three — and another 15 members of the Government who are unhappy about the Bill — that they must not vote against it if they want to remain in their jobs. Mr Hoon had told them that although there was a three line whip on the Bill, they would be permitted to abstain from those elements of it which allegedly clash with their religious beliefs. The three Cabinet members, though, are now threatening to rebel and vote against the Bill.

All Catholic MPs are under pressure from Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, who is agitating hard against the legislation. “Many people of all faiths and none are deeply concerned by the moral questions raised by this Bill,” he said. “Now is the time for our voices to be heard.”

The Cardinal says that the Bill will remove the need for a father in IVF treatment, will allow the selection of embryos to create so-called “saviour siblings” who can provide spare-part tissue for an older sibling and will legalise the creation of "human-admixed embryos" – which the Catholic Church are misrepresenting as the creation of some form of horror film-style part human, part animal monstrosity. Read a more scientific explanation of hybrid embryos here

Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, is also opposing the Bill, saying: it “is gradually but inexorably moving towards a more instrumental view of how we may treat human organisms”.

Geoff Hoon said that “while I entirely respect the strong moral sensitivities of colleagues, there are also strong moral sensitivities in relation to research into a number of appalling diseases and conditions. I accept that the Catholic Church has a view and a role. But part of the frustration is that there hasn't been the coverage about what is possible, what this [research] does and why we are doing it.”

One of his Commons friends, Kevin Hughes, he confided, died of motor neurone disease. "I still feel his loss now. It's the most horrendous disease."

Terry Sanderson, president of the National Secular Society, said: “Mr Hoon says that the Catholic Church has a ‘role’ in this decision. Why does it? Readers may wish to ask themselves whether they believe the Church is deliberately misrepresenting it in order to frighten people into opposing it. Before dismissing this possibility, let us not forget the Church’s intransigent contention that condoms are no barrier to Aids in the face of repeated denials by the World Health Organisation. The Catholic Church should have no role other than that of campaigning, in the same way that we all can. Applying emotional and religious pressure to MPs goes beyond ordinary lobbying and becomes an abuse of the democratic process. The chief whip should reinstate the three line whip, and if these MPs consider the Vatican’s dishonest line to be more important than their jobs, then he should not hesitate to sack them. And when these MPs come up for election, we challenge them to make clear to their electorates that they will vote in a accordance with the behest of Cardinal O’Connor (or his successor) regardless of any other considerations, including the wishes of the majority of their constituents.”
See also: Catholic pressure on fertility bill

14 March 2008