A British school has admitted giving out more than 300 morning-after pills over the past four years without informing parents. A woman doctor or nurse is available to give prescriptions four days a week at Lutterworth Grammar School, Leicestershire, which has 1,900 pupils, more than a third of them aged 16 to 19. Many family campaigning groups have objected, but the headmaster says the policy is right for the school. Approximately a third of school pupils in Britain have access to condoms and other birth control through schools or clinics. [Mail on Sunday, 29 April]
The Making Decisions Alliance (MDA) has welcomed the code of practice on the Mental Capacity Act, published this week by the British government. The organisation has also called for a culture change in the provision of services to those who lack capacity to make decisions. [Community Care, 27 April] SPUC comment: One member-group of the MDA, Mencap, recently published a report, "Death by Indifference," deploring the neglect (e.g. starvation) of disabled people by hospitals. They do not seem to recognise that the Mental Capacity Act is promoting a culture change against the interests of disabled people.
A study by the Royal College of Midwives reveals that around 20% of new mothers in Britain suffer from postnatal depression and that a bad experience of childbirth is a risk factor. The estimate for 2000 was 10%, and the increase could be attributed to a shortage of midwives, which leads to poorer care in hospitals. [Mail on Sunday, 29 April] A British man has been charged with murder and assisting the suicide of his wife, who suffered from multiple sclerosis. Mr Robert Cook is said to have killed Mrs Vanessa Cook who had multiple sclerosis. The case continues. [Argus, Brighton, 30 April]
An IVF specialist in London, UK, is to sue the BBC for libel over allegations made in a Panorama programme in January. Using under-cover reporters, the BBC claimed that Dr Mohammed Taranissi used unnecessary and unproven treatments. Dr Taranissi claims that the allegations were defamatory and the programme has caused lasting damage to his professional reputation. [Sun, 30 April, and Sunday Times, 30 April]
A Mexican bishop has criticised Mexico City's new law legalising first trimester abortions for making the womb the most dangerous place for the unborn, and for redefining abortion. Bishop Rodrigo Aguilar, president of the committee on the family of the Mexican Bishops' Conference, encouraged people to look at images of the unborn during the first trimester, and "to contemplate with fascination and wonder the marvel of human life from the beginning." [CNA on EWTN, 27 April] Fr Thomas Euteneuer, president of Human Life International, has called the new law catastrophic. He said the vote went against the will of the people, and was achieved with the aid of millions of US dollars. [CNA on EWTN, 27 April]
Two UN officials have appeared before Nicaragua's Supreme Court to support a constitutional challenge to a law prohibiting all abortions, according to Dr Rafael Cabrera, president of ANPROVIDA. Dr Cabrera criticised the officials for attempting to alter the sovereign will of the citizens of a country they were supposed to serve, and pointed out that the mission of the UN is to avoid holocausts, not promote them. [CNA on EWTN, 27 April]