Cherie remarks under spotlight

Last Modified: 20 May 2008
Source: ITN

Cherie Blair has appeared to contradict Catholic teaching on artificial birth control by speaking about contraception.

Mrs Blair, who described herself as a "good Catholic girl", said the ability to control their fertility had "changed" women's lives.

Her remarks came following her admission in her new book Speaking For Myself that she had not packed her "contraceptive equipment" for a visit to Balmoral, which resulted in her pregnancy with her youngest son Leo.

She said: "People seem to be quite shocked that perhaps a Catholic girl even uses contraception but it is really an important thing for women because one of the things about the book is about how women's lives have changed.

"One of the reasons women's lives have changed is that they have been able to control their fertility, it is an important issue."

Mrs Blair's remarks on contraception come after Pope Benedict XVI earlier this month strongly defended the 1968 Papal encyclical Humanae Vitae, the controversial Papal document against artificial birth control.

Tony Blair was received into the Catholic Church shortly before Christmas and gave a public lecture earlier this year at Westminster Cathedral.

The Blairs have brought up all four of their children as Catholics.

Their youngest son, Leo, made his First Holy Communion at the weekend in Westminster Cathedral.

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