BONN, July 11, 2006 – This week, six years after being ordered to cease and years of interventions from the Vatican, the German Catholic bishops’ conference has prohibited Catholics from using a pregnancy service that was issuing certificates for government funded abortions.

“As a private association, Donum Vitae is an organization outside the Catholic Church – its information centres are not acknowledged by the bishops’ conference or by individual bishops,” the bishops said in a statement. “Persons acting in the Church’s service are prohibited from cooperating with Donum Vitae. Nor is it permitted to exchange personnel.”