News,

The parents of a 22-year-old man with severe learning disabilities are campaigning to have him sterilised on the grounds that if he fathered a child with the same condition, the child would go into care. Paul Smalldon, the father of Gavin said: "If you ask Gavin he wouldn't be able to give you an answer. He has the mind of a six-year-old. You can't ask him what he thinks about sterilisation and what that means." [icnorthwales, 1 June]

A US Senator has called for limits to the number of embryos created through IVF to reduce the amount of embryo wastage. There are thought to be some 400,000 human embryos in storage in the US. [Medical News Today, 1 June]

Colombia's bishops are rallying opposition to plans to decriminalise abortion. Cardinal Pedro Rubiano Saenz stated: "Nothing and no one can authorise the death of a human person, and certainly not when the person is helpless and unprotected." [CWNews, 30 May]

Disability rights groups are opposing legislation in California that would allow assisted suicide, warning that it will pressurise people with disabilities to end their lives. Under the terms of the bill two doctors must determine that the patient has less than six months to live and that he or she is mentally competent. [Lifenews.com, 31 May]

Japan's fertility rate continues to fall, raising fears about the possible demographic impact on the nation's social security system and pension fund. Japan now has one of the lowest birth rates in the world at 1.2905. [BBC, 1 June]

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