Cardinals told 'back off from this war with women and state'

It comes round as regularly as spring showers. Every year, and sometimes more often, there is another assault on women's right to abortion. Forty years on from the orginal Abortion Act, in 1967, it is still not possible to relax about this issue. There are plenty of people around even now who want a return to the dark ages when women had no right to choose, or had to resort to the horrors of backstreet abortion.

The latest, and most shocking statements for some time, come, unsurprisingly, from the Catholic church. In recent weeks church leaders have used extreme language and thinking wholly against our constitution and tradition. What they have done is perilous for their religion, never mind for women who have decided to have an abortion. Read more