After Scotland’s Catholic bishops stressed the right to life as fundamental, their parliamentary office has released a letter setting out the Church’s teaching on abortion and assisted suicide ahead of the U.K. general election next week.
“It is the duty of all of us to uphold the most basic and fundamental human right – the right to life,” the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland said the letter, released Thursday ahead of the Dec. 12 vote. “We should urge candidates to recognize human life from the moment of conception until natural death and to legislate for its protection at every stage, including protecting the unborn child, ensuring that both mother and child are accepted and loved.”
The bishops did not endorse any political party or candidate but said abortion, assisted suicide and euthanasia are “always morally unacceptable,” and that all politicians should be urged to resist the decriminalization of abortion, which leads towards abortion on demand for any reason.
In line with recent comments by Pope Francis on his papal trip to Japan, the Scottish bishops also urged the next U.K. government to work to eliminate the U.K. nuclear arsenal and to move away from weapons industries which “fuel wars and instability across the world.”
About ten percent of Scotland’s 5.4 million people are Roman Catholic, while about 18% belong to the protestant Church of Scotland. Over half of Scottish people say they have no religion at all. CNA
