SPUC has launched a campaign against the British government's draft Human Tissue and Embryos Bill, which is due to be introduced to parliament in November. SPUC's 16-page briefing describes how the bill would significantly weaken protection for human embryos' right to life, proposes to legalise new abuses of human embryos, and raises the possibility of parliament's amending the Abortion Act to permit legalised abortion on demand. As well as being available in printed form, the briefing is on the web. [briefing, SPUC website, 10 August]

A former abortionist for Planned Parenthood has repented publicly of her involvement in terminations. During a prayer rally in Nashville, Tennessee, in July, Dr Patti Gibbink announced to a crowd of approximately 60,000 people that "it's time" for abortion to be brought to an end and asked God to "end abortion and bring revival to America". [LifeSite, 9 August]
A British woman has given birth to identical triplets. Ms Mae Christina Astley, 25, gave birth by caesarean section at Feldkirch State Hospital, western Austria, on Monday. Only between one in 130,000 and one in 150,000 pregnancies is likely to result in identical triplets, with many ending in miscarriage or stillbirth or resulting in the children being born with disabilities. The girls, Amy, Kim and Zoë, were naturally-conceived and are said to be well. They are in intensive care. [Times, 9 August]

Scientists in Japan claim to have produced four generations of cloned pigs. Prof Hiroshi Nagashima, a geneticist at Meiji University, believes the pig is proof that scientists can clone large mammals several times without causing significant problems with mutating genes. He claims that, as a result, cloning science may be used to produce animal organs to be harvested to replace damaged human ones. Pig organs are genetically similar to those found in people and earlier research has found that a human's immune system is unlikely to reject them. There is a high failure rate when implanting cloned embryos, as was the case with the first cloned mammal, Dolly the sheep, and there are fears that cloning technology will be applied to humans for the same purposes, resulting in the death of thousands of unborn children. [LifeNews, 9 August]