News,

British MPs have allowed the government's Human Fertilisation and Embryology (HFE) bill to advance to its next stage, with 81% of those who voted backing the proposed law. Ms Geraldine Smith MP of the ruling Labour party expressed revulsion at the bill's proposals to allow hybrids and saviour siblings. Mr Gary Streeter MP, Conservative, pointed out that embryo-research had not produced any therapies. [BBC, 12 May] Paul Tully of SPUC said: "This result is very disturbing. In the debate [on Monday] we heard yet more promises of therapies that could come from such research. In 1990 we were told that breakthroughs were imminent and yet nothing has been achieved save the destruction of countless human embryos." [12 May] SPUC supporters are urging MPs to oppose pro-abortion amendments to the bill which is back in the Commons on Monday and Tuesday. [13 May]

Andrew Lansley, Tory spokesman on health, said that he would support an amendment to allow abortion on demand by scrapping the two signature requirement. [Telegraph, 13 May] John Smeaton, SPUC national director, has said: "Shame on Andrew Lansley" [SPUC director blog, 14 May]

The HFE bill would allow cloned humans to be born, according to several academics. A letter to a newspaper points out that the bill repeals the 2001 Human Reproductive Cloning Act. Signatories include Professor David Albert Jones, professor of bioethics, St Mary's University College, Twickenham, Professor John Keown, professor of Christian ethics, Georgetown University, Professor John Haldane, director of the centre for ethics, philosophy and public affairs, University of St Andrews, Professor Janet E Smith, chair of life ethics, Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Detroit, and Dr Gregory K Pike, director, Southern Cross Bioethics Institute, Adelaide, South Australia. [Telegraph, 13 May]

An opinion survey suggests that four fifths of the British public want more parliamentary debate on the HFE bill. A ComRes poll of 1,000 respondents for Comment on Reproductive Ethics found that people thought the three hours allowed for discussion of animal-human hybrid embryos was inadequate. [The Times, 13 May] The Catholic Bishop of Paisley, Scotland, wants more attention paid to human embryos' moral status. Rt Rev Philip Tartaglia points out that 10 years of human embryo research has yielded nothing useful. [Herald, 14 May]

SPUC delivered a 45,400-signature petition to parliament opposing the HFE bill. The document said: "The Petitioners ... request that the House of Commons vote against the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, and urge the Government to change its policy towards endorsing the creation of human-animal hybrid embryos in the laboratory; the widening of the scope for experiments on human embryos, and the creation of human embryos for other purposes without regard for the welfare and status of such embryos." Mr David Burrowes, Conservative MP for Enfield Southgate, presented the petition to the House of Commons. [SPUC, 12 May]

Northern Ireland's four main political parties are opposing the extension of British abortion law to the province, which has been suggested in the context of the HFE bill. Leaders of the Democratic Unionists, Sinn Féin, the Social Democratic and Labour Party and the Ulster Unionists are co-signatories to a letter to MPs. [BBC, 11 May] Liam Gibson of SPUC Northern Ireland writes: "On 22 October 2007 Assembly members from the four major political parties gave overwhelming support to a motion rejecting 'any attempt to make abortion more widely available in Northern Ireland.' The letter from party leaders reflects that overwhelming view of the Assembly. The people of Northern Ireland recognise the right to life of the unborn child - a right affirmed by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. They are also increasingly concerned by the evidence of the harm abortion does to women. It is vitally important that people write to the Prime Minister asking him not to allow the House of Commons to impose the Abortion Act on the Province but let this matter be decided by our elected representatives in the Assembly."

The head of the Anglican communion has compared issues raised by the HFE bill with those of rape and torture. Most Rev Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, said that people needed to be treated as ends in themselves, "not a tool for someone else's agenda". [Telegraph, 11 May] Most Rev Peter Smith, chairman of the English and Welsh Catholic bishops' department for Christian responsibility and citizenship, says that society needs more time to consider issues raised by the bill, including hybrids and saviour siblings, before legislation is passed by Parliament. [Times, 10 May] The vice-president of the Parkinson's Disease Society welcomes the bill. Ms Geraldine Peacock writes: "No research that offers the chance of release from this tyrant of an illness should be stopped, especially when it could bring the chance of a better quality of life for all." [Guardian, 12 May]

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