Legislation would be "to the potential benefit of many people in this country", Mr Bradshaw told the BBC.
But the Archbishop of Cardiff, the Most Reverend Peter Smith, said he advised MPs to vote against parts of the bill.
He said MPs have a "moral dilemma" over the bill and has written to the prime minister asking for them to be allowed to vote in line with their conscience.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill would allow the creation of hybrid human-animal embryos for research.
'Sacredness of life'
The archbishop told BBC Radio 4: "Those MPs who have approached me over recent weeks have said: 'Look, I don't think this is right. I accept the teachings of the Church, yet I am a Government minister, or I am a Labour MP. Can I discuss with you the moral dilemma I have got?'.
"This is a matter which is clearly affecting many MPs.
"I have written to the Prime Minister myself asking him that, in view of these very important issues which touch on the sacredness of human life, its meaning and purpose, would he please grant a free vote, because that is what is really required."
|
We seem to be moving into a
sphere where we are actually taking on the role of the creation of life
Stephen Pound MP |
Welsh Secretary Paul Murphy is reportedly one of those prepared to quit the Cabinet rather over the bill. Other Catholics in the Cabinet are Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly and Defence Secretary Des Browne.
The bill has also been condemned by other leading Catholics.
Catholic Labour MP Joe Benton and Scottish Catholic leader Cardinal Keith O'Brien are among those who have called for MPs to have a free vote.
In a sermon to be delivered on Easter Sunday, Cardinal Keith O'Brien described the plans as "monstrous".
He warned Mr Brown against imposing a three-line whip on Labour MPs - which orders them to vote with the party line.
Another Catholic MP, Stephen Pound, has said he will not be voting for the measure.
'Terrible diseases'
He said: "We seem to be moving into a sphere where we are actually taking on the role of the creation of life."
Responding to Cardinal O'Brien's criticism, Mr Bradshaw told BBC Radio 4's Any Questions: "If it was about the things the cardinal referred to, creating babies for spare parts or raiding dead people's tissue, then there would be justification for a free vote.
"But it's not about those things. He was wrong in fact, and I think rather intemperate and emotive in the way that he criticised this legislation.
|
From a religious point of view,
it seems right that we should use God-given powers of science Evan Harris MP |
"This is about using pre-embryonic cells to do research that has the potential to ease the suffering of millions of people in this country. The government has taken a view that this is a good thing."
Liberal Democrat Evan Harris, a member of the Commons Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills Select Committee, said he felt ethically obliged to allow scientists to carry out the research.
"From a religious point of view, it seems right that we should use God-given powers of science to create short-term entities that are microscopic that might be a way of showing us how to develop stem cells from embryos that might be used to treat people with terrible diseases," he said.
Controversial aspects
Downing Street said a decision on a free vote would be taken "in due course".
Both the Conservative and Liberal Democrat leaders plan to allow their MPs to have a free vote on the more controversial aspects of the bill.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill is designed to bring the 1990 regulatory framework for fertility treatment and embryo research in line with scientific advances.
|
Hybrids are made
using an animal egg mixed with human genes Archbishop's views |
The Most Reverend Peter Smith has advised MPs to vote against a bill which allows the creation of hybrid human-animal embryos for research.
He joins other leading Catholics and Catholic MPs demanding to be allowed to vote in line with their conscience.
But Health Minister Ben Bradshaw said it was right to push through the law.
Mr Bradshaw told the BBC the legislation would be "to the potential benefit of many people in this country".
'Sacredness of life'
But the archbishop said many MPs had a "moral dilemma" over the bill.
He said he had written to the prime minister asking for Labour MPs to be released from the three-line whip that would force them to vote for the legislation - ministers who did not support a whipped vote would be expected to resign.
The archbishop told BBC Radio 4: "Those MPs who have approached me over recent weeks have said: 'Look, I don't think this is right. I accept the teachings of the Church, yet I am a Government minister, or I am a Labour MP. Can I discuss with you the moral dilemma I have got?'.
|
We seem to be moving into a
sphere where we are actually taking on the role of the creation of life
Stephen Pound MP |
"This is a matter which is clearly affecting many MPs.
"I have written to the prime minister myself asking him that, in view of these very important issues which touch on the sacredness of human life, its meaning and purpose, would he please grant a free vote, because that is what is really required."
Welsh Secretary Paul Murphy is reportedly one of those prepared to quit the Cabinet rather than vote for the bill. Other Catholics in the Cabinet are Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly and Defence Secretary Des Browne.
The bill has also been condemned by other leading Catholics.
Catholic Labour MP Joe Benton and Scottish Catholic leader Cardinal Keith O'Brien are among those who have called for MPs to have a free vote.
In a sermon to be delivered on Easter Sunday, Cardinal Keith O'Brien described the plans as "monstrous".
He warned Mr Brown against imposing a three-line whip on Labour MPs - which orders them to vote with the party line.
Another Catholic MP, Stephen Pound, has said he will not be voting for the measure.
He said: "We seem to be moving into a sphere where we are actually taking on the role of the creation of life."
'Terrible diseases'
Responding to Cardinal O'Brien's criticism, Mr Bradshaw told BBC Radio 4's Any Questions: "If it was about the things the cardinal referred to, creating babies for spare parts or raiding dead people's tissue, then there would be justification for a free vote.
"But it's not about those things. He was wrong in fact, and I think rather intemperate and emotive in the way that he criticised this legislation.
|
From a religious point of view,
it seems right that we should use God-given powers of science Evan Harris MP |
"This is about using pre-embryonic cells to do research that has the potential to ease the suffering of millions of people in this country. The government has taken a view that this is a good thing."
Liberal Democrat Evan Harris, a member of the Commons Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills Select Committee, said he felt ethically obliged to allow scientists to carry out the research.
'God-given powers'
"From a religious point of view, it seems right that we should use God-given powers of science to create short-term entities that are microscopic that might be a way of showing us how to develop stem cells from embryos that might be used to treat people with terrible diseases," he said.
Downing Street said a decision on a free vote would be taken "in due course".
Both the Conservative and Liberal Democrat leaders plan to allow their MPs to have a free vote on the more controversial aspects of the bill.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill is designed to bring the 1990 regulatory framework for fertility treatment and embryo research in line with scientific advances.
The votes would be permitted only if they did not threaten the passage of the bill, a government official said.
Some MPs are deeply concerned about letting scientists create embryos which combine human DNA and animal cells.
Prominent Catholic clergy, including Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, have urged Mr Brown to allow a free vote.
The cardinal, who is the Roman Catholic leader in England and Wales, said Catholic MPs would want to vote on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill according to their conscience.
Gordon Brown's compromise is not a free vote, but it is a chance for people who feel they cannot support parts of the bill, for religious or ethical reasons, to let the government know.
They would then be given "permission" to vote against the government.
'Feel very strongly'
Northern Ireland Secretary Shaun Woodward said the bill was an important piece of government business which must be passed, but suggested a compromise was possible.
He told Sky News: "I believe it is possible, if we listen to the arguments and we remove the misunderstandings, to find a way forward so the government can complete its business."
The government says the medical benefits of allowing the creation of hybrid embryos for research purposes could ease the suffering of millions of people, including those affected by Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.
|
Catholics in politics have got
to act according to their Catholic
convictions, so have other Christians, so have other politicians Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor |
The embryos are made by combining animal eggs with human nuclei, which can then be grown into stem cells and used by scientists. The bill comes in response to a shortage of available human eggs for research.
But Mr Brown has faced growing dissent over the bill, including from several prominent ministers.
One Catholic Labour MP, Joe Benton, has warned that a "substantial number" of fellow Labour MPs are ready to defy the government if there is no free vote.
In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, Labour MP Stephen Byers - a former cabinet minister under Tony Blair - said the public would "look on in disbelief" if Mr Brown did not offer a free vote.
Welsh Secretary Paul Murphy is reportedly prepared to quit the cabinet rather than vote for the bill. Other Catholics in the cabinet are Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly and Defence Secretary Des Browne.
The bill received first reading in the House of Commons in February and while no date has been set for second reading - or approval in principle - it is viewed as a key piece of legislation on the government's agenda.
In an interview for Sky News broadcast on Sunday, Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor said: "I think Catholics in politics have got to act according to their Catholic convictions, so have other Christians, so have other politicians.
"There are Catholics who feel very strongly about this matter and I am glad that they do.
"Certainly, there are some aspects of this bill on which I believe there ought to be a free vote, because Catholics and others will want to vote according to their conscience. I don't think it should be subject to the party whip."
'Good thing'
Other senior Catholic clergymen including Scottish leader Cardinal Keith O'Brien and the Archbishop of Cardiff, Peter Smith, have also called on Mr Brown to allow a free vote.
In his Easter Sunday sermon, Cardinal O'Brien describes plans to allow hybrid human-animal embryos as "monstrous".
|
This is about using
pre-embryonic cells to do research that has the
potential to ease the suffering of millions of people in this country
Health minister Ben Bradshaw |
But Health Minister Ben Bradshaw has said: "This is about using pre-embryonic cells to do research that has the potential to ease the suffering of millions of people in this country.
"The government has taken a view that this is a good thing."
Liberal Democrat Evan Harris, a member of the Commons Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills Select Committee, said it was right to conduct research that "might be used to treat people with terrible diseases".
Conservative leader David Cameron and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg will allow their MPs a free vote.
The bill is designed to bring the 1990 regulatory framework for fertility treatment and embryo research in line with scientific advances.
In his Easter sermon, Cardinal O'Brien described the legislation as a "monstrous attack on human rights, human dignity and human life", adding that it would allow experiments of "Frankenstein proportion".
But Lord Winston told The Daily Telegraph: "His statements are lying. They are misleading and I'm afraid that when the Church, for good motives, tells untruths, it brings discredit upon itself."
"I have huge respect for the Catholic
Church, which does great
good, but it will be destroying its probity with overblown statements
of this kind."
I have a question for Lord Winston: "What are the 'good motives' you
refer to?" The man must know he is lying, his motive is to maintain the
authority of the Roman Catholic Church. It is the same motive as that
of the cardinals surrounding Pope Urban VIII, prohibiting the advocacy
of scientific fact as valid if
it was opposed to the current teaching. Or is he so completely brainwashed
by years of pontificating and laying down the law on matters he does
not understand that he believes his dogma to be the truth whatever the
evidence?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7310918.stm
MARCH
25th 2008
Labour MPs are to be allowed to vote according to their conscience on
the clauses of the bill that from some reason they think affects their
'morals' or their 'conscience', whatever they think these words mean,
but they are in the end asked to support the government on the passage
of the bill as a whole. It is not really worth the PM's time to make an
issue of this as it is now clear that those who think 'voting according
to conscience' means voting according the instructions from the
Catholic hierarchy, or voting according to superstitions that have no
basis is science or scripture, are so confused that it would be cruel
to punish them or expecting them to resign. On the other hand one might
give second thoughts as to why such confused people are on the Front
Bench anyway.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/skynews/20080325/tuk-mps-get-free-vote-on-ivf-and-embryos-45dbed5.html
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