Please sign the ‘One of Us’ petition

More than a million people have now signed the pan-European petition: 'One of Us' petition - calling for the EU to stop funding activities which result in the destruction of human embryos. This means that ‘One of Us’ leaders will now be given an official public hearing in the European Parliament to outline the need for legislation to protect the human embryo.

Archbishop Peter Smith, Vice President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, said: "Sunday, 22nd September has been set aside as the ‘One of Us Click and Sign’. The petition officially closes on 1 November and organisers hope that thousands more will sign up to the petition before that date."

The One of Us campaign idea and name was developed by the Italian Pro-Life Movement under the leadership of MEP Carlo Casini, and specifically as fruit of his lifetime commitment to working towards full protection for the human embryo.

The campaign underlines the moment of conception as the beginning of human life, and aims to prevent any funding of activities which result in the destruction of human embryos, particularly focusing on areas of research, development aid and public health.

The initiative follows a recent European Court of Justice judgment (Brustle vs Greenpeace - Germany), which upheld the special nature of the human embryo.

The campaign will be taken forward using the vehicle of a European Citizens’ Initiative which is a newly established legal instrument which allows citizens across the EU to propose legislation if it falls within the scope of EU competency. Such an initiative must have the support of at least 7 of the 27 member states and each individual state involved must collect a minimum number of signatures based on its overall population. An overall number of at least one million European citizens must adhere to the proposal.

54,000 signatures are required from the UK to fulfil our quota.

To take part in this campaign you must be resident in a EU State, be 18 or over and eligible to vote in the European Elections.

We are focusing exclusively on online collection and this can be done easily at: www.oneofus.eu

Just click on ‘SIGN’ at the top of the page and follow the instructions, including clicking on the ‘support’ button, and ‘United Kingdom’ of course when asked for your country identification.

It takes two minutes from start to finish.