News,
The US Episcopal Church's first openly gay bishop has urged Planned Parenthood to promote abortion and sex education among 'people of faith'. Bishop Gene Robinson was speaking at Planned Parenthood's fifth annual prayer breakfast in Washington. David Beriet, national director of the pro-life group Stopp International, vowed that Stopp is "not going to allow Planned Parenthood to hijack Christianity." The number of Planned Parenthood facilities went down from 866 to 849 between 2003 and 2004, and donations dropped from $230 million to $191 million between 2002 and 2003. [Medical News Today, 19 April]
The Australian Bishops' Taskforce on Pastoral Responses to Abortion is exploring ways in which the Catholic Church can respond to women in crisis pregnancies, Cathnews reports. Bishop Eugene Hurley who chairs the taskforce said: "We want to listen and learn from the lived experiences of women, their partners and families, who are considering or have been involved with abortion. The Church is already doing a lot to help, but we hope to do more." [Cathnews.com, 19 April]
Members of the US National Institutes of Health have criticised President Bush's opposition to destructive embryonic stem cell research during a Senate committee hearing. Rep. Michael Castle is sponsoring the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, which has 193 cosponsors in the House of Representatives and is being sponsored by Arlen Specter in the Senate. [Baptist Press News, 18 April] A woman was arrested at an abortion facility in Illinois after she tried to stop her 14-year-old daughter from having an abortion. The woman began calling her daughter's name when she was unable to find her and was told by a medical technician: "It's your daughter's rights; it's her body. You have no rights." [Baptists Press News]
A Manchester hospital has apologised after a woman was accidentally given the remains of her unborn baby following a miscarriage. A nurse thought that the plastic bag containing the body had clothes in it and handed it to the father before they left St Mary's Hospital. [Manchester Evening News, 19 April]
A Lesbian couple from Oxfordshire have applied for fertility treatment that would involve the donation of an egg by one of the women to be fertilised and implanted in the womb of the other. By this method, Vicky Hill and Hayley Marlow believe they will have "a baby that has truly come from both of us." The HFEA said that the couple could only be equal parents if the birth mother renounced her claim to the baby and they adopted it. [The Independent, 19 April]
Euthanasia kits have been made available to doctors at 250 pharmacies around Belgium. The kits cost 60 euros and can be ordered by doctors who must pick them up in person 24 hours later. Belgium legalised euthanasia in September 2002. [Yahoo News, 17 April]
The director of the US group Priests for Life has criticised the chairman of the Democrat Party for claiming that his party will use Terri Schiavo during election campaigns. Howard Dean said at a recent political dinner: "This is going to be an issue in 2006, and it's going to be an issue in 2008. Because we're going to have an ad with a picture of Tom DeLay saying, 'Do you want this guy to decide whether you die or not? Or is that going to be up to your loved ones?'" Fr Frank Pavone said: "Morally speaking, she [Terri] was murdered, and being with her at her bedside during her last hours, I saw the terror on her face and the agony of her death." [Lifenews.com, 18 April]
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