?The BPAS clinic in Richmond also potentially put women at risk, according to a CQC report in 2015.

The NHS in Norfolk has announced that it has given its three-year contract for abortion and related services to the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), replacing Marie Stopes International (MSI).

The news comes less than a month after the Care Quality Commission (CQC) published a serious of damning reports into MSI in England. The Norwich centre in Norfolk was forced to suspend all surgical terminations for two months after the initial inspection, and received perhaps the worst report. Inspectors found that "multiple surgical termination products" were being left in an open bin, "infection control audit results were poor", and "staff were not trained to recognise and respond to a deteriorating patient".

The local clinical commissioning groups which awarded the contract to BPAS insist that the timing is a coincidence.

BPAS also criticised 

BPAS will take over services in Norfolk on April 5. BPAS was itself criticised by the CQC in 2015 as well as having been exposed by the Daily Telegraph for referring women with late-term pregnancies to a clinic in Spain whose head was recently jailed for carrying out illegal abortions. Ann Furedi, the current CEO of BPAS has vigorously defended doctors who carry out sex-selection abortions and opposes any law limiting a woman's right to an abortion for any reason.

http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/health/marie_stopes_international_will_not_provide_abortions_in_norfolk_from_april_as_chiefs_award_new_contract_to_another_charity_1_4841887

Indian state considering two child policy for government employees

A policy set to be introduced to the Legislative Assembly of the Indian state of Assam would bar anyone working for the government from having more than two children.

"If a person wants to do a job with the Assam government, that person should not have more than two children," said the Assam Minister of Education, Health, and Finance Himanta Biswa Sarma in a press conference according to the Northeast Today,a media outlet based in northeast India. "When the policy comes into effect, those who are in government jobs and already have two children should not go for a third child. If an employee will have more than two children while on job, that particular employee will lose his or her job," Sarma said.

If adopted, Assam would become the eighth state in India to adopt a two-child limit for government employees. Local elected representatives are already barred from having a third child in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Bihar, Gujarat, and Uttarakhand.

Jonathan Abbamonte, of the Population Research Institute, notes that two child policies lead to a rise in abortions, particularly, because of cultural pressures, of baby girls. <

https://www.pop.org/content/indian-state-proposes-two-child-limit-government-employees

Russian region has "no abortion day" to mark feast of the Holy Innocents

The Russian region of Yaroslavl has banned abortions for one day after local religious leaders called for the biblical account of the Massacre of the Innocents to be commemorated.

The Russian Orthodox Church diocese in the city of Yaroslavl declared 11 January a "day of silence without abortions", and said it had the support of the region's health department. Abortion is legal in Russia and the cost is covered by the state.

A statement on the diocese's website reads. "The event is dedicated to the memory of Bethlehem children slaughtered by King Herod, who wanted to kill the newborn infant Christ. On this day it is forbidden to carry out abortions in all state medical institutions in Yaroslavl Region."

There's been no official announcement from Yaroslavl health department, but a local hospital told the  Mediazona website that it had received a letter from state officials confirming the ban.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-38583663