News,

A US Circuit Court Judge has blocked the removal of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube shortly after a District Court of Appeal freed her estranged husband to order her death by starvation. Terri's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, are seeking medical tests to determine her mental capabilities and have asked Michael Schiavo to divorce her. [The Guardian, 23 February]

Norma McCorvey, formerly Jane Roe of Roe v. Wade has lost an appeal to overturn the 1973 ruling that enshrined abortion as a constitutional right. The Supreme Court rejected Ms McCorvey's appeal without comment. [Reuters, 22 February]

New guidelines have been issued on methods to test that nasogastric tubes are correctly inserted following the deaths of 11 patients in two years. The patients died after the feeding tube was accidentally inserted into their lungs. However, Sir Liam Donaldson, England's chief medical officer said: "Every year hundreds of thousands of patients benefit from nasogastric feeding when tubes are placed correctly and without incident by healthcare staff and carers." Up to one million nasogastric tubes are thought to be used by the National Health Service every year. [The Guardian, 22 February]

The US Supreme Court has agreed to hear a challenge to Oregon's assisted suicide law. Oregon's Governor Ted Kulongoski criticised the move but Physicians for Compassionate Care said that the legal challenge was necessary to stop the killing of vulnerable patients. [The Guardian, 22 February]

Belfast police have confiscated pictures of abortion belonging to a pro-life group Precious Life. Members of the groups had been using the display for over seven years when police officers claimed that the images were 'offensive' and that demonstrators could be prosecuted for displaying 'offensive material.' [CWNews, 22 February]

A man who killed a pregnant woman and her unborn child whilst driving under the influence of cannabis has been convicted of manslaughter. A French appeals court ruled that only one person was deemed to have been killed. [LifeSiteNews.com, 22 February]

The Nigerian Cardinal Francis Arinze has said during an interview that pro-abortion politicians should not receive Holy Communion. Cardinal Arinze stated: "The answer is clear. If a person says I am in favour of killing unborn babies whether they be four thousand or five thousand, I have been in favour of killing them. I will be in favour of killing them tomorrow and next week and next year. So, unborn babies, too bad for you. I am in favour that you should be killed, than the person turn around and say I want to receive Holy Communion. Do you need any Cardinal from the Vatican to answer that?" [LifeSiteNews.com, 16 February]

A US breast cancer foundation gave Planned Parenthood $475,000 of funding in 2003, LifeSiteNews.com reports. The Komen Foundation's donation prompted a medical analyst, Eve Sanchez Silver, to resign on the grounds that: "You can't affirm life with one hand and support an organisation that kills people with the other." [LifeSiteNews.com, 22 February]

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