Some 18 different groups â?? mostly of Catholic and evangelical inspiration, mostly small outfits â?? have united to oppose the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill in a campaign called Passion for Life. But it has failed to make much impact in the media. The pro-abortion and pro-embryo research lobbies are far more powerful, far better organized, and use sophisticated, well-funded PR techniques to get their message across.
But the pro-Life movement also has to ask itself where it is going wrong. More than 50 percent of people oppose the creation of hybrids, two-thirds of the population want there to be fewer abortions, and there is deep unease about â??saviour siblingsâ??. Fewer than 10 percent of the British population go to church, so this is not, despite appearances, a disagreement between religious people and secularists â?? despite these being the voices most often heard in the debate. Yet the pro-Life movement is seen as an essentially religious lobby, for whom embryos have souls and for whom abortion is above all about sin. The fact that the pro-Life movement has been unable to capitalize on the widespread unease at the further erosion of respect for human life should cause it to reflect not just on its aims and strategies, but on its inability to connect with wider public opinion.
Austen Ivereigh Emancipate the Embryo
Passion for Life – MPs vote ‘Yes’ to animal/human mixed embryos, ‘Yes’ to Saviour (or spare part) siblings, ‘Yes’ to end of Fatherhood and ‘No’ to tighter abortion laws
