News,
A legal challenge to government guidance that allows minors to have abortions without parental knowledge is to be heard in the High Court today. Sue Axon from Manchester argues that parents should be informed if their children seek abortion. She said: "We have got a very, very strong case that government strategies are damaging children." [BBC, 8 November] Anthony Ozimic, SPUC's political secretary, commented: "Not only is abortion fatal for babies but it can leave serious emotional scars on those girls who undergo it. Girls are simply being rushed through the abortion mill by a government failing to reduce teenage pregnancy rates and by abortion clinics with a vested interest in easy access to abortion. Doctors and abortion clinics rarely give girls the necessary facts about abortion. Parents are being left to pick up the pieces after abortions performed on their daughters without their knowledge. The promotion of secret teen abortions shows how extreme the Government and the pro-abortion lobby have become."
Lord Joffe is to reintroduce into the House of Lords a revised version of his Bill to legalise assisted suicide. Lord Joffe has refused to replace the reference to 'unbearable suffering' with 'intractable suffering', saying that it would compel patients to try palliative care before opting for assisted suicide. Lord Joffe said that "there is a small number of patients who would say they do not want palliative care. They are actually ready to die." [The Guardian, 7 November] The World Health Organisation and the National Council for Palliative Care have said that palliative care should be available to everyone before laws are passed to legalise assisted suicide.
South Korean police have arrested a man suspected of trading in human eggs, ABC News reports. The suspect, known only as Kim, is believed to have persuaded women to sell their ova to pay off debts and sold them at a profit to infertile women over the Internet. Trading in human gametes is punishable in South Korea with up to three years' imprisonment. [ABC News, 7 November]
Supporters of a proposed parental notification law in California have recorded staff at an abortion facility agreeing to perform a secret abortion on a caller posing as a 13-year-old. The promise was made even though the father was said to be a 22-year-old, which would constitute statutory rape in California. A study of teenage pregnancies in California found that 71% of fathers were legal adults. [CWNews, 7 November]
A report published by the Swedish government has argued that abortion should be made available to non-residents, Lifenews.com reports. Sweden allows free abortions for its residents up to 18 weeks of pregnancy. Last year, Denmark altered its laws to allow abortions for non-residents. [Lifenews.com, 7 November]
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