Ireland's Catholic bishops have spoken of their fears that there is "a crisis in our culture with regard to the age old appreciation that human life is sacred", writes Patsy McGarry, Religious Affairs Correspondent.
They said: "You cannot have a true Christian compassion if the right to life of the unborn child is not recognised as an absolute."
Last Monday the Church of Ireland Bishop of Cashel and Ossory, Right Rev Michael Burrows, attacked the "systemic spinelessness" of Ireland's politicians in failing to enact legislation to allow for abortion following the X case.
He did so in a homily before a congregation which included the papal nuncio, Archbishop Giuseppe Lazzarotto, at a service in St Michan's Church of Ireland, Dublin, to mark the new law term.
He said failure to legislate on the X case - where the Supreme Court allowed a minor to travel to the UK in 1992 for an abortion on the basis that her life was at risk - and issues relating to human embryology had left doctors, lawyers and others floundering. This was due to the "hypocritical and ostrich-like" stance of politicians, he said.
The previous Saturday, September 29th, an Irish Times/ Behaviour and Attitudes social poll indicated that 54 per cent of Irish women believed the Government should act to allow abortion, while that figure rose to 69 per cent when it came to support for abortion in the circumstances of the X case.
In a rare joint statement issued yesterday, designated "Day for Life 2007", Ireland's Catholic bishops said that "from the Christian point of view, compassion in crisis pregnancy-counselling cares for both the mother and her unborn child. You cannot have a true Christian compassion if the right to life of the unborn child is not recognised as an absolute".
They continued that "reflecting on this recently, our colleagues in the US Conference of Catholic Bishops said, 'true commitment to women's rights puts us in solidarity with women and their unborn children. It does not pit one against the other but calls us to advocate on behalf of both'. As our conference has argued, a far more compassionate response is to provide support and services for pregnant women, advance their educational and economic standing in society, and resist all forms of violence and stigmatization against women".
Referring to the Irish Catholic Church's pregnancy counselling agency Cura, the bishops said it "sought to value and respect the life of mother and child" and they were "determined that it will continue to do so without in any way compromising the faith and the principles that have motivated it from the beginning."
Tomorrow the Crisis Pregnancy Agency (CPA) board will gather for a monthly meeting at which difficulties with Cura's refusal to distribute its "positive options" leaflet will be discussed again. Cura receives funding from the agency, but a spokesman for the bishops said last night they would forego this if a solution was not reached.