In an open letter sent today (Tuesday 28 October 2008) to Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Cardinal Keith O'Brien has described Schedule 3 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill as "potentially most harmful". In his letter he draws the Prime Minister's attention to the fact that the Bill "provides for taking tissue from incapacitated adults and children without their consent" and adds that "the grotesque implications of these procedures are utterly horrifying".

Speaking at the SPUC Scotland Conference in Glasgow tomorrow (Saturday 25 October) Cardinal Keith O'Brien will conclude that although a framework of universal human rights has been established across the world since the end of the Second World War, "the harsh reality is that the noble words of so many high blown declarations have been matched with a barbaric indifference to the rights of the unborn."