Cura digs itself into a hole and now the Church must find a way out

WHEN you’re in a hole, the old saying goes, you should stop digging. Michael McDowell cited it recently, as he elegantly side-stepped public odium by allowing Nigerian student Kunle Elukanlo back into the country.

In doing so, he converted a potentially humiliating climbdown into positive PR for ‘the Government that listens’.

The Catholic church’s pregnancy counselling agency, Cura, could take a leaf from the McDowell phrase-book. A few weeks ago, it became embroiled in controversy over a leaflet called Positive Options, which it is now distributing. This leaflet comes from the state’s Crisis Pregnancy Agency (CPA) and includes details of pregnancy counselling agencies which give contact information for abortion providers in Britain.