News,

Abortion

• Catholic nurse forced to participate in an abortion under the threat of disciplinary action [ProLifeBlogs.com, 22 July] http://is.gd/1IyCz
• Pro-life commentary debunking claim that legalising abortion protects women's health [SPUC director's blog, 21 July] http://is.gd/1IzHq

Embryology; stem cells

• Claim that skin-like tissue has been developed from human embryonic stem cells [Medical News Today, 22 July] http://is.gd/1IySJ

IVF; fertility treatment

• A slow embryo heart rate could mean that mothers who have undergone in vitro fertilization are at increased risk for miscarriage [Reuters, 22 July] http://is.gd/1Izm5

Population

• Op-ed from anti-life Guardian columnis: "Our ageing world isn't a catastrophe. It's a triumph" [Guardian, 22 July] http://is.gd/1IxNC

Sexual health; teenage pregnancies

• New magazine launches assault on our nation's children [SPUC director's blog, 22 July] http://is.gd/1Iylo
• Muslim group to oppose compulsory sex ed for primary school children [Independent, 23 July] http://is.gd/1IxWY
• Mexican government promotes "morning after pill," condom use, to ten-year-olds [LifeSiteNews.com, 22 July] http://is.gd/1Iyr5

Maternal health and unborn health

• Mothers' health in the days and weeks prior to becoming pregnant may determine the health of offspring much later in life [Medical News Today, 22 July] http://is.gd/1IzhV
• New research has suggested that pregnant women with low levels of the hormone progesterone may be more likely to have a premature birth [Nursing in Practice, 22 July] http://is.gd/1IyGv

Euthanasia and assisted suicide; disability

• A former employee of Swiss suicide facility Dignitas has spoken out after the recent double suicide of a British couple. In reality the Dignitas 'clinic' is "just one person who has found a way to make a lot of money out of death and the fear of it", said Soraya Wernli [Christian Institute, 22 July] http://is.gd/1Ize2
• Female medical student murdered two elderly women so she could study death [Daily Mail, 22 July] http://is.gd/1IyeW

Marriage and family; sexual ethics

• A study has shown that fathers play a crucial in family life, and that without a father present in the crucial first stage of life, offspring grow up to be less sociable. [Daily Mail, 23 July] http://is.gd/1IxvN
• Father, 60, writes about being an older parent [Times, 23 July] http://is.gd/1IyaM
• 180 people face flogging for extramarital sex in the Maldives [Amnesty International, 22 July]http://is.gd/1IyYC

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