Cardinal attacks British embryology law

• Tweet

LONDON, March 22 (UPI) -- A leading Roman Catholic Church prelate condemns a proposed British law that would ease restrictions on embryos, with one cardinal calling it "grotesque."

Cardinal Keith O'Brien, head of the church in Scotland, plans to use his Easter sermon for an assault on the bill, The Times of London reported. The text of the sermon to be delivered Sunday in St. Mary's Cathedral in Edinburgh was released Friday.

"One might say that in our country we are about to have a public government endorsement of experiments of Frankenstein proportion -- without many people really being aware of what is going on," the advance text says. "It is difficult to imagine a single piece of legislation which more comprehensively attacks the sanctity and dignity of human life than this particular bill."

The Human Fertilization and Embryology Bill would allow embryos created by hybridizing humans and animals.

Jim Devine, a Labor member of Parliament who is also a psychiatric nurse, told the Times he finds the cardinal's attack "totally unacceptable." He said the research could lead to treatments for devastating diseases.