News,
Chinese woman six months pregnant dies from forced abortion
Organisations opposing the Chinese one-child policy have obtained information that on 12 October, 2011, a woman died during a forced abortion. She was six months pregnant at the time. Jihong Ma from Lijing County in Shandong Province was seized by Family Planning Officials for a forced abortion, having violated the One Child Policy. [ICN, 18 October] http://goo.gl/t7gOP
Researchers say false miscarriage diagnoses are resulting in abortions
A study led by Professor Tom Bourne from Imperial College London has found that hundreds of pregnancies may be lost every year due to ‘inadequate’ miscarriage guidelines. The research has led to claims that up to 400 'healthy'* fetuses may be aborted every 12 months. Professor Bourne said "We hope our work means that the guidelines to define miscarriage are made as watertight as we would expect for defining death at any other stage of life" and called for the guidelines to be reviewed so that "inadvertent termination of wanted pregnancies cannot happen". [rcm.org.uk, 14 October] http://goo.gl/SXquf *John Smeaton, SPUC’s chief executive, commented: “Tragically, all too often, the adjective “healthy” is used in such contexts to refer to a baby who does not appear to have a disability – with the implication that it would be OK to abort disabled babies. This eugenic attitude is the foundation of the culture of death and must be opposed whenever it emerges.”
NHS records show patients left to die by secret use of do not resuscitate orders
Do not resuscitate orders are frequently being applied without the knowledge of the patient or their relatives. Spot checks of one hundred hospitals undertaken by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), earlier this year found that the orders were frequently issued without informing either patients or relatives. Under medical guidelines, the orders should only be issued after senior staff have discussed the matter with the patient's family. [Telegraph, 15 October] http://goo.gl/UPy0s
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