Britain’s most senior Roman Catholic has compared abortion to the eugenics of Nazi Germany, in comments which seem certain to push the issue back up the political agenda ahead of a widely expected general election.

Writing in the Sunday Telegraph newspaper, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor criticised abortion, euthanasia, embryo selection and embryonic research.

“In all these cases, the terrible truth is that it is the strong who decide the fate of the weak,” wrote Murphy-O’Connor, leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales.

“Human beings therefore become instruments in the hands of other human beings. That way lies eugenics, and we know from German history where that leads.

“We are already on that road: for what else is the termination of 6 million lives in the womb since the Abortion Act was introduced, and embryo selection on the basis of gender and genes.”

In drawing attention to the 6 million abortions carried out in Britain since the practice was legalised in 1967, the cardinal appeared to be making a deliberate comparison with the Nazi massacre of nearly 6 million Jews in the Holocaust.

His comments echoed those of Pope John Paul, who in his recently published book “Memory and Identity” described abortion as a “legal extermination” comparable to attempts to wipe out Jews and other groups in the 20th century.

The comparison sparked protests from Jewish groups. Responding to Murphy-O’Connor’s article, published on Easter Sunday, a spokesman for the Reform Synagogues of Great Britain said he strongly disagreed.

“It is somewhat disingenuous for him to use the image of the 6 million,” the spokesman told the Sunday Telegraph. “It is possible to be both religious and pro-choice.”

Earlier this month, Murphy-O’Connor helped propel abortion onto the political agenda ahead of an election expected on May 5 by saying he welcomed the stance of the opposition Conservative Party, which has said it will consider lowering the legal limit for abortion - currently 24 weeks after pregnancy.

The cardinal was criticised for wading into the political debate but, in his article on Sunday, said he was unrepentant.

“I am glad I spoke out, for a nerve was touched, and it gave the chance for many, many people - the majority according to a number of recent opinion polls - to express their unease at the thousands of abortions that take place each year in our country.”

Almost 200,000 terminations are performed annually in England and Wales, most in the early stages of pregnancy.

A recent poll in the conservative Daily Telegraph newspaper showed 55 percent of voters favoured reducing the legal limit.

Catholics make up only around 1 million of Britain’s 58 million strong population. But their stance on abortion has also found support among Britain’s much larger Protestant population.