News,

Some doctors in the UK think that free medical treatment should not be given in all cases. In a survey by Doctor magazine of 870 doctors, one in three said that elderly patients should not be given free treatment if it were unlikely to do them good for long. One in five said that social abortions and fertility treatment should not be provided by tax money. [Telegraph, 26 January]

A young British mother who refused to have an abortion and delayed having cancer treatment has died. When Mrs Lorraine Allard, 33, was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer when she was four months pregnant, she told her husband Martyn: " If I am going to die, my baby is going to live". Liam, their fourth child, was born 15 weeks early. [Telegraph, 26 January]

A member of the US Supreme Court has said that courts do not have the competence to decide on moral issues such as abortion. In an address to students at Mississippi State University, Justice Antonin Scalia said that judges did not have a greater capacity than the rest of the population to determine what is moral. Mr Scalia supports overturning Roe v. Wade and allowing states to determine their own abortion laws, and last October stated that no abortion right existed in the US constitution. [LifeNews, 27 January]

Sociologists believe that the 18.6% increase in China's divorce rate may be linked to the one-child policy. The lone children have grown accustomed to having their own way as only children, and find it difficult to sustain relationships. Divorces increased to 1.4 million in 2007. The rise is also attributed to widening of divorce four years ago, with couples now able to divorce in one day at a cost of 10 yuan (70p) [Guardian, 25 January]

Opposition to IVF is increasing in Poland, though it is still a minority opinion, according to a CWN report of a story published in Rzeczpospolita. A recent survey found 26% of people opposed to IVF. The increase in opposition is attributed to recent statements by the country's Catholic bishops. [Catholic World News, 25 January]

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