News,

As predicted yesterday, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has urged British fertility clinics to limit the number of embryos used in in vitro fertilisation (IVF) to two, with a view to reducing the number of multiple births. Fertility experts have said that the measure is unfair on women who need several embryos in order to have the chance of giving birth to one baby. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority says it has no plans to propose changes to the law. The number of triplets has increased threefold in the 20 years since IVF began. [The Times and The Express, 20 January, 2000] A 12-year-old girl has given birth in Plymouth, south-west England. Some 7,700 girls under 16 conceived in 1997 (the last year for which figures (presumably for the UK) are available), of whom 2,200 were under 14. [Daily Telegraph, 20 January, 2000] Four MPs have added their names to an amendment to the parliamentary motion which describes the dangers of the morning-after pill and points out its abortifacient nature. The amendment states that so-called emergency contraception is not a method of abortion. The motion itself carries the names of six MPs in addition to that of the proposer, Mr David Atkinson MP. [UK Parliament website, 20 January, 2000] This bulletin is privately circulated by the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, 5/6 St Matthew Street, London, United Kingdom, SW1P 2JT, +44 20 7222 5845. The reliability of the news herein is dependent on the cited sources and opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the society. Please forward this bulletin to other interested parties. To subscribe or unsubscribe, send an appropriate email to Paul Danon, SPUC information officer, as information@spuc.freeserve.co.uk