News,

A group of 49 US congressmen have urged President Bush not to allow over-the-counter distribution of the morning after pill, Family News reports. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended making the pill available without prescription last year. However, the congressmen warned that the pill would encourage irresponsible sexual behaviour and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, some of them known to be fatal. [Family News in Focus, 13 January]


Researchers from the University of Dundee have found that women who have their first child by Caesarean section are more likely to have trouble conceiving again. 19% of women who had had a Caesarean section reported difficulties conceiving a second time compared with 5% of women who had a natural delivery. [Ananova, 14 January]


Researchers have called on the Scottish executive to introduce policies that would encourage younger women to have children, The Scotsman reports. Professor Heather Joshi made the suggestions after research she carried out at the Fraser of Allander Institute showed a demographic 'gap' caused by women putting off having children to establish careers. However, Shona Robinson of the Scottish National Party said that it was 'unrealistic' to ask women to have children at a younger age. [The Scotsman, 14 January]


Canada's Planned Parenthood Federation has circulated a letter to members accusing pregnancy help centres of harassing, intimidating and lying to women. Pro-life activists have said that the abortion industry is trying to undermine the work of centres that help women and save lives. [Lifenews.com, 12 January]


A judge has rejected the possibility of appointing an independent guardian for Terri Schiavo, ABC news reports. Mrs Schiavo's parents have argued that their daughter, who has been in a coma since she collapsed in 1990, should have an independent guardian rather than her husband, Michael Schiavo. He denies any conflict of interests, even though he has a girlfriend with whom he has two children. [ABC news, 10 January]


A feature in the Daily Mail has criticised the neglect of the elderly and the poor state of care homes in the UK. Blackadder star Tony Robinson speaks of the medical neglect of his father during the last year of his life, blaming 'a culture that views the new as exciting and dynamic and the old as dull, expendable and irrelevant.' [Femail, 13 January]


The majority of pregnant women do not wear a car seatbelt or know how to wear one correctly, according to researchers from Loughborough university. Dr Serpil Acar, the principal researcher said: "Pregnant car users who improvise to increase comfort might be risking their lives and those of their unborn babies in case of an accident." [BBC, 12 January]

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