CHURCH REACTION:THE CATHOLIC primate, Cardinal Séan Brady, has responded strongly to yesterday's judgment by the European Court of Human Rights. He said "the direct destruction of an innocent human life can never be justified, however difficult the circumstances."
No law “which subordinates the rights of any human being to those of other human beings can be regarded as a just law”, he said.
He noted that “the judgment leaves future policy in Ireland on protecting the lives of unborn children in the hands of the Irish people and does not oblige Ireland to introduce legislation authorising abortion”.
He said “the Irish Constitution clearly says that the right to life of the unborn child is equal to that of his or her mother’’.
“The Catholic Church teaches that neither the unborn child nor the mother may be deliberately killed. The direct destruction of an innocent human life can never be justified, however difficult the circumstances.
“We are always obliged to act with respect for the inherent right to life of both the mother and the unborn child in the mother’s womb.”
He recalled that in a recent reflection to mark the beginnings of Advent, Pope Benedict had pointed out that the embryo in the womb, “is not just a collection of cells but a new living being, dynamic and marvellously ordered, a new individual of the human species”.
The cardinal said that “as a society we all have a responsibility to respond sensitively to any woman who finds herself dealing with an unplanned pregnancy. I urge anyone in this situation to contact Cura, the crisis pregnancy support service’’.