Terry Pratchett, the popular fiction author, has spoken in support of the legalisation of assisted suicide. In an interview with Britsh Humanist Association, Mr Pratchett said: "Either we have control over our lives or we do not. I don't believe that life is a gift from God, because I don't believe there is a god in the sense that people think of that." Mr Pratchett was speaking ahead of a debate on assisted suicide expected next week as part of the government's Coroners and Justice bill. [International Humanist and Ethical Union, 30 June] Anthony Ozimic of SPUC commented: "It is striking that many of the people who either want or who campaign for assisted suicide are people with a heightened concern for control over their own lives. Allowing assisted suicide would actually remove control from vulnerable people by exposing them to coercion, either implicit or explicit."

Other stories:

House of Commons debates abortion in Northern Ireland, with unionist and nationalist MPs uniting to oppose it [Belfast Telegraph, 16 July]

US judge Sonia Sotomayor said yesterday neither President Barack Obama nor anyone else in the administration asked her views on abortion rights before she was nominated for the Supreme Court. [Irish Examiner, 16 July] Obama's surgeon general pick: a Catholic who backs abortion rights [Miami Herald, 14 July]

Catholic Primate of Spain criticises proposed Spanish abortion law, saying it views abortion as a contraceptive. [Catholic News Agency, 15 July]

Sydney Catholic archbishop funding adult stem cell research [Pat Buckley - European Life Network, 15 July]

A Spanish woman who was the oldest recorded woman (at 66) to give birth has died, leaving orphaned twins [Telegraph, 15 July]

John Holdren, President Obama's appointment as science tsar, used to support forced abortions [LifeNews.com, 14 July]

The Italian Parliament has voted to promote a United Nations resolution condemning the use of abortion for population control purposes [LifeSiteNews.com, 15 July]

A survey by Marie Stopes claims that lack of information is main cause of unplanned pregnancies [Nursing Times, 15 July]

Unborn babies that are only 30 weeks old may already possess short-term memory, Dutch researchers report. [Forbes, 15 July]

Woman with two wombs has given birth [Evening Standard, 15 July]

A health woman from Vancouver is seeking to commit suicide alongside her ill husband [Vancouver, 14 April]

A task force on ethics of the Quebec College of Physicians has endorsed legal euthanasia [Globe and Mail, 15 July]

Peter Singer, the eugenicist, proposes discriminatory health care rationing. Pro-life bioethicist Wesley Smith responds [Secondhand Smoke, 15 July]

Michal Kaminski, a conservative Catholic pro-life/pro-family MEP, is appointed head of the European Conservatives and Reformists group within the European Parliament (the British Conservative party is a group-member). [Times, 16 July]

Holy See representative says promotion of life should be at centre of health assistance [Deacon for Life, 15 July]