Cherie Blair (pictured) has been invited to speak next week at a conference on women and rights organised by the Pontifical University of St Thomas, otherwise known as the Angelicum, one of the world's leading Catholic universities.Mrs Blair, like her husband Tony, is often listed as a Catholic. Yet like her husband, Mrs Blair has a long track-record of promoting anti-life and anti-family causes, in opposition to Catholic teaching. Mrs Blair has endorsed CEDAW (the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women), specifically mentioning CEDAW's affirmation of women's so-called 'reproductive rights', which is both a technical term and a euphemism for abortion on demand. The CEDAW convention and the committee which implements it are the vehicles for one of the most radical pro-abortion campaigns ever. Mrs Blair has also endorsed the radical pro-abortion organisations the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), 
the Family Planning Association (FPA) UK and Human Rights Watch. (Mrs Blair is pictured here at FPA's 75th birthday party, where she cut a special birthday cake.) Both IPPF and FPA endorsed the failed campaign to remove the Holy See from the United Nations.
It is therefore deplorable that an abortion-promoter like Mrs Blair has been invited to speak, not just at a pontifical university in Rome, but at a conference on women and rights. What about the rights of the countless unborn girls killed because of the pro-abortion groups Mrs Blair has endorsed? What about the countless millions of women suffering from post-abortion trauma?
It is therefore deplorable that an abortion-promoter like Mrs Blair has been invited to speak, not just at a pontifical university in Rome, but at a conference on women and rights. What about the rights of the countless unborn girls killed because of the pro-abortion groups Mrs Blair has endorsed? What about the countless millions of women suffering from post-abortion trauma?
Organisations associated with the Catholic Church (or indeed any group, religious or secular, opposed to abortion) should not invite Mrs Blair (or her husband) to their events. I urge people to contact the Angelicum immediately to protest against Mrs Blair's invitation and demand it be withdrawn. You can contact the following relevant persons at the Angelicum:
- the organising secretariat of the conference, email convegno@pust.urbe.it
- the deanery of the faculty of social sciences, email fass@pust.urbe.it
- the secretariat of the university, email segreteria@pust.urbe.it
- by fax: +39 06 69 88 41 72
- by post: Congregation for Catholic Education, Palazzo della Congregazioni, Piazza Pio XII 3, 00193 Roma, Italia
