News,

Abortion

• The government has announced that the teaching of sex education will be compulsory from age five onwards in state schools in England [Department for Children, Schools and Families, 5 November] http://is.gd/4UdTl Paul Tully, SPUC general secretary, commented: "We condemn this exploitation of the state-controlled school system by the government to deliver its anti-life policies to children, by-passing parental involvement." [SPUC, 5 November] http://is.gd/4NPXj The government has signaled that such education will include teaching children about abortion, contraception and homosexuality [SPUC, 11 November] SPUC has called for the government to scrap its plans for compulsory sex education, in the light of the rise in teenage abortions. New Department of Health figures reveal a steep rise in the number of abortions among 14 and 15 year olds in the last two years. [Daily Mail, 2 November] http://is.gd/4M0Q0 John Smeaton, SPUC director, commented: "The rise in teenage abortions is a direct result of the government's obsession with providing abortion to schoolgirls without parental knowledge or consent. It's vital that parents take a stand against government authorities whose policies lead to usurping parents' rightful role." [SPUC, 2 November] http://is.gd/4L0Oq
• Official figures suggest that there has been a slight increase in abortion in Northern Ireland. 92 women had abortions in 2008, whereas 79 women had abortions in 2007. [BBC, 10 November] http://is.gd/4Ueqd Liam Gibson of SPUC Northern Ireland commented: "Even a slight increase in the number of abortions is a matter of grave concern since every abortion means the death of a child." [SPUC, 10 November] http://is.gd/4RUIg
• British Victims of Abortion (BVA) has welcomed a new study which confirms that abortion is bad for women. The study, by Professor David Fergusson and his team at the department of psychological medicine, university of Otago, New Zealand, found abortion can put women at increased risk of mental health problems. [Telegraph, 2 November] http://is.gd/4M13P Margaret Cuthill of BVA commented: "What we at British Victims of Abortion hear in the counselling room confirms the truth of Professor Fergusson's results." [SPUC, 2 November] http://is.gd/4L5NR

Euthanasia and assisted suicide; disability

• SPUC Pro-Life has called for an apparent double suicide case to be investigated. The BBC reported the deaths of Dennis and Flora Milner of Newbury, Berkshire and their alleged suicide note. [BBC, 3 November] http://is.gd/4MbRU Paul Tully, SPUC Pro-Life's general secretary, commented: "The police should investigate the circumstances of this couple's apparent suicide to establish whether any other person was involved in the deaths. [SPUC Pro-Life, 3 November] http://is.gd/4Mcr7

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