News,
The British government has affirmed its intention to permit the creation of human-animal hybrid embryos. After the announcement today of the legislative programme for the new parliamentary year, Anthony Ozimic, SPUC political secretary, commented: "Today is a fateful day for Britain and for the world, because the government's bill represents an unprecedented attack upon the dignity of human life, seeking to lead the world in truly sinister experiments - the creation of human-animal hybrids and the genetic modification of human beings. These developments, and the financial motivation behind them, are ethically deplorable. We have had a very positive response to our campaign against the bill among the general public, and we are using that support to call upon members of both Houses of Parliament to vote on principle against the bill as a whole at the first opportunity." [SPUC, 6 November]
A study by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) has found that in Nepal and Vietnam the ratio of boys to girls is increasing. Many couples are using ultra-sound scans and amniocentesis to detect and abort baby girls. It is feared that greater gender imbalance will lead to increased trafficking of women and domestic violence. UNFPA researchers say that the imbalance in Vietnam (110 boys to 100 girls at birth) is not yet a cause for concern, but the rate in India is cited as 108 boys to 100 girls. [Reuters, 5 November] Comment: It is hypocritical of UNFPA to bemoan the adverse effects on women of gender imbalance. UNFPA's pro-abortion ethos is promoting the decimation of unborn baby girls by abortion.
Figures released to the British parliament show that there was a sharp increase last year in the number of hospital beds being unavailable because patients were supposedly staying in hospital longer than necessary. The so-called bed-blocking occurs because many elderly patients have nowhere else to go where they can receive the necessary care. A spokesman for the Local Government Association said that health care was being overstretched as a result of under-funding in social care. [BBC, 3 November]
Members of the British government may face an investigation after a complaint that they did not declare donations they received from pro-abortion campaigners. Mrs Nadine Dorries, Conservative MP for mid-Bedfordshire, lodged the complaint against 12 Labour ministers and members of parliament who reportedly received grants from Emily's List, a body that assists women to enter politics on condition that they agree to support the pro-abortion cause. [Mail on Sunday, 4 November]
The US conference of Catholic Bishops ran an advertising campaign in publications produced for politicians urging Congress to support the Mexico City Policy, which prevents government funds being used to fund abortions abroad. The advertisement has been funded by the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic organisation. [Zenit on EWTN, 4 November]
A young Jehovah's Witness has died in a British hospital after giving birth to twins, because she refused to have a blood transfusion. If doctors had intervened, they could have been charged with a criminal offence, as there was nothing to indicate that Emma Gough, the twins' mother, was not of sound mind when she signed a form. Ms Vivienne Nathanson, head of ethics at the British Medical Association, said that UK human rights law would have to be changed for doctors to be able to override an adult's decision to refuse treatment on religious grounds. [BBC, 5 November]
Ms Paula Radcliffe, the British athlete, won the New York marathon just 10 months after the birth of her daughter. It was her first marathon in two years. [Sun, 5 November]
To subscribe to SPUC's email information services, please visit www.spuc.org.uk/em-signup. The reliability of the news herein is dependent on that of the cited sources, which are paraphrased rather than quoted. Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the society. © Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, 2018