The High Court in Belfast has granted an application to SPUC for a judicial review of the Northern Ireland health department's guidance on abortion. Mr Justice Weatherup allowed the application on the grounds that the department has erred in law in its view of the law on abortion in Northern Ireland, as summarised in the guidance, and on other grounds. Liam Gibson of SPUC Northern Ireland said: "We are very grateful to have the opportunity to present the issues that were not properly examined during the consultation, particularly the recommendations of the Stormont health committee. We hope that the department will now be reasonable and redraft the guidance which were fundamentally flawed and need radical revision." [SPUC, 30 June]

Pope Benedict has said that being an adult Christian means being pro-life. In an address closing the Catholic Church's Year of St Paul, the Pope said that an example of an adult faith is "to commit to the inviolability of human life from the very beginning, thus radically opposing the principle of violence, in defence of the most defenseless humans." He said that following the trends of the day was, in contrast, childish [LifeSiteNews.com, 29 June]

The headquarters of a pro-life organisation which had campaigned against the work of Dr George Tiller, the murdered abortionist, has been attacked. A man attempted to dismantle the security system at Operation Rescue, based in the late Dr Tiller's home-town of Wichita Kansas. Troy Newman, the organisation's head, has also been subject to death-threats since Dr Tiller's murder. [LifeNews.com, 26 June]