News,
The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals has refused to reconsider its decision to uphold Oregon's assisted suicide law. The White House requested that the court revoke its backing of the law, which makes Oregon the only state to permit euthanasia in the US. However, a majority of the court's 25 judges voted against a rehearing and officials have not decided whether to appeal to the Supreme Court. [
The Guardian, 17 August]
The Libertarian Alliance, a radical free market and civil liberties think tank, have welcomed the news that a research team in the UK have been granted permission to clone early embryos. They described the regulation of scientific research as 'a moral obscenity' and the opponents of cloning 'an unholy alliance of religious fundamentalist lunatics and the green slime of environmentalists and anti-scientific and anti-capitalist primitivists.' [
Libertarian Alliance, 17 August]
A lecturer from the University of Ghana has spoken in favour of the legalisation of abortion at a seminar of reproductive health. Professor A F Aryee, who is also involved with the Population Impact Project, claimed that women are dying as a result of abortion and should be able to obtain an abortion from a qualified doctor. [
Ghana Web, 16 August]
Pope John Paul II has made his 104th overseas trip to visit Lourdes, France. He arrived on 14 August and was greeted by the French President Jacques Chirac. During his homily, he urged thousands of pilgrims: "Do everything within your power so that life-- every life-- is respected, from conception until its natural end." [
Catholic World News, 16 August]
Researchers gathering for a conference in Maine, US, are concerned that the promise of embryonic stem sell research is being exaggerated, Lifenews.com reports. Views that miracle cures are just around the corner were dismissed as 'fairy tales'. Dr Louis M. Kunkel, director of the Maine Children's Hospital Genomics Program, reminded fellow scientists that cures from embryonic stem cell research could be decades away, if they come about at all. [
Lifenews.com, 17 August]
A petition to the chairmen of both the Republican and Democratic parties has been launched seeking acknowledgement of the millions of American women who have been psychologically and emotionally damaged by abortion. The sponsors of the petition include women who regret their abortions and the leaders of organisations established to support women suffering post-abortion distress. [
The Elliot Institute, 17 August]
Babette Francis, the National and Overseas co-ordinator of Endeavour Forum INC, has drawn attention to cases of uterine damage caused by abortion, resulting in infants being born disabled or premature. Her article comes after a case in Sydney, Australia, where a child who suffered brain damage at birth lost her lawsuit against her mother's gynaecologist. The judge ruled that Kirsty Bruce's disabilities had probably resulted from uterine rupture caused by her mother's earlier abortion. [
News Weekly, 17 August]
A 39-year-old legal secretary has given birth to her sixth surrogate child. Ms Jill Hawkins gave birth a week ago in the presence of the adoptive parents and a news team. [
This is Brighton and Hove, 17 August]
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