News,

UK pro-life group questions why assisted suicide isn't prosecuted.

Keir Starmer, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), has announced that he did not consider it to be in the public interest to bring a case against Michael Irwin, a former GP, for assisting the 2006 suicide of Ray Cutkelvin, who had pancreatic cancer. Peter Saunders, CEO of the Christian Medical Fellowship, said that the DPP’s decision not to prosecute was not based on a lack of evidence. Mr Saunders said that Mr Irwin was open about his involvement in the death of Mr Cutkelvin and that he had helped kill nine people in the past. Mr Saunders said that the refusal to prosecute assisted suicide was part of an emerging pattern in the UK. He added that such a pattern of non-prosecution had emerged in the Netherlands prior to the legalisation of euthanasia. [Peter Saunders, 27 June] http://bit.ly/bUsrGj

Fertility centre impregnate woman with wrong embryo.

It has been revealed that a woman in Connecticut, America, has been impregnated with an embryo of another woman with the same last name. The lady then decided to take the morning-after pill to abort the child. The mistake happened in April 2009 at the Center for Advanced Reproductive Services, University of Connecticut Health Center. The centre has been fined US$3,000. The woman who parented the embryos had not been in treatment since 2006, but had continued to store them at the centre and was also informed of the error. [NBC Connecticut, 28 June] http://bit.ly/cRzJug

Study shows large number of dementia patients being abused.

A US study of elderly patients has found that a large number of its participants with dementia had suffered some form of abuse. 129 persons diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease or a related disorder and their caregivers were seen in their homes. The researchers determined that 47% of participants with dementia (61 people) had been mistreated by their caregivers. An expert panel met monthly to consider and assess evidence supplied mostly by the caregivers themselves. [Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, 28 June] http://bit.ly/9tCwiF

The UK Royal College of Gynaecologists supports killing 570 babies a day.

The RCOG has released two new reports, on foetal awareness and abortion on the ground of foetal anomaly. The foetal awareness report claims that a foetus cannot feel pain before 24 weeks because the connections in the foetal brain are not fully formed. Paul Tully, SPUC's general secretary, has said that the RCOG supports the killing of 570 babies every day in Britain, at all stages of pregnancy, and that the report is just a way of denying that what they are doing is evil. [John Smeaton, 25 June] http://bit.ly/b4qUbD

Royal Society of Medicine, UK, to hold debate on assisted suicide.

This Wednesday (30 June) there will be a conference/debate on assisted suicide at the Royal Society of Medicine. Fr Timothy Finigan, founder of the Association of Priests for the Gospel of Life, has encouraged pro-lifers to attend. Fr Finigan reports that the pro-euthanasia lobby are trying to stack the debate and generate publicity on Thursday morning ahead of a discussion on ethics at the AGM of the British Medical Association. [Fr Timothy Finigan, 26 June]http://bit.ly/cWgSVY

Abortion may triple the risk of breast cancer, study says.

Researchers have claimed that having an abortion can triple a woman's chance of getting breast cancer in later life. The conclusion was made during research into the relationship between breast feeding and breast cancer. Breast feeding was found to provide protection against breast cancer. Having an abortion was the highest reported risk factor in developing the disease. [Daily Mail, 24 June] http://bit.ly/9MyADU

German court approve euthanasia by neglect.

Germany's federal court of justice has overturned a conviction against a lawyer who advised his client to remove the feeding tube of her 72-year-old mother in 2002. Alex Schadenberg, founder of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, said that this decision is wrong because the court wrongly defined fluids and food as medical treatment, rather than basic care. Mr Schadenberg said that the court has approved the direct and intentional dehydration of people who are not otherwise dying. [Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, 25 June] http://bit.ly/cYT2Fz

Pontifical Academy for Life director shows how contraceptive techniques are frequently abortive.

Monsignor Jacques Suaudeau, the Scientific Director of the Pontifical Academy for Life, has recently published an interview where he explains the links between contraception and abortion. Monsignor Suaudeau says that fifty years after the introduction of the first contraceptive pill the reality is that, far from reducing the number of abortions, contraception has itself become increasingly abortive. Monsignor Suaudeau says that it is in the functioning itself of the “pill” that abortion gains an entry. [John Smeaton, 22 June] http://bit.ly/9hsoHI

US approves new abortion drug.

An advisory committee of the US Food and Drug Administration has approved a new abortion drug called Ella. The drug was falsely being promoted as an emergency contraceptive pill. One way in which the pill is reported to work is to kill a newly formed embryo before implantation in the mother's uterus. The panel claimed that the drug could be used to prevent pregnancy even when taken five days after intercourse. In doing so they redefined pregnancy from the moment of implantation, rather than conception. The FDA is yet to formally approve the drug, but usually follows the recommendations of its advisory committtees. [LifeNews.com, 17 June] http://bit.ly/9YbV3y

Scottish people oppose assisted suicide bill.

87% of those who submitted evidence to the Scottish parliament regarding Margo MacDonald's assisted suicide bill were opposed to the introduction of assisted-suicide laws in Scotalnd. Reports say that almost 20% of the representations were medical experts and that the vast majority of those were opposed to it. The Scottish Pariliament's Information Centre revealed that many doctors were concerned of the damage such a bill might cause to the public percepetion of doctors, who promise through oath to preserve and not to end life. [scotsman.com, 19 June] http://bit.ly/9IQjii

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