The head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales has written in the London Telegraph his support to showing an abortion on British television.
The Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, said he hopes the documentary "My Foetus" will have a "devastating" effect on viewers when it is shown later this month.
Writing in The Telegraph Sunday, Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor said: "The searching questions which we all, at some time or another, ask about ultimate truth and the meaning of human life continue to reveal the limits of scientific knowledge. Issues, such as abortion, which some believed to have been irrevocably decided, are challenged anew because we find that we cannot live a lie, or defy the power of moral truth ... .
"I believe Channel 4's documentary showing an abortion in progress will have a devastating effect on all who see it. Many, perhaps for the first time, will realize that abortion involves the deliberate destruction of human life."
The Archbishop of Birmingham Vincent Nichols gave an opposing view last week when he said: "Any film that shows an abortion is abhorrent to Catholics. We find it totally irresponsible of Channel 4."