Portsmouth, England, Apr 16, 2018 / 15:56 pm
Bishop Philip Egan of Portsmouth has encouraged Catholics, as the "people of life", to be positive and confident in sharing the good news of life.
"There is now in society great confusion and conflict about what it means to be human, about relationships, sexuality and love, but also, most seriously, about the actual value and dignity of human life itself from conception to natural death," Bishop Egan wrote in an April 15 pastoral letter.
He noted that it has been more than 50 years since abortion was legalized in Great Britain, and that "As a people of life, our efforts to defend the unborn child, to care for pregnant mothers and to reverse or blunt this Act have had mixed results and it now looks as if, unjustly, our secularist government will no longer allow us even to pray outside hospitals and clinics."
The British parliament and some localities are considering establishing "buffer zones" around abortion clinics to keep away pro-life protestors and those offering alternatives to abortion. One London borough has already established one of these "Public Space Protection Orders".