News,

Britain's high abortion rate and falling birth rate are contributing to an ageing population in which over-65s will outnumber under-16s for the first time by 2014. The findings are contained in the social trends survey published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in England and Wales. In 2000, 23 percent of all pregnancies ended in abortion, up from 12 percent in 1970. As the abortion rate has risen, so has the birth rate dropped, with the number of babies being born decreasing by 10 percent in the last decade alone. Penny Babb, one of the authors of the ONS report, said: "We are in the midst of one of the most striking demographic shifts for generations as the ageing population has become a reality." [Daily Mail, 30 January] Nearly 6 million unborn children have been killed in registered abortions in Britain since 1968. In a major victory for pro-lifers in New Jersey, a bill to promote embryonic stem cell research and so-called therapeutic cloning has been withdrawn due to lack of support. The abandonment of the legislation represents a major defeat for the state governor Jim McGreevey, who had announced that the bill was a top priority for his administration. Pro-lifers had warned that the bill would have authorised not only the creation of human clones but also their gestation up to nine months but not beyond. Four members of the US president's council on bioethics had signed a letter to Governor McGreevey pointing out the flaws in the bill. [LifeSite, 11 February] New Mexico's state house of representatives has passed legislation to force all hospitals to offer abortifacient morning-after pills to alleged rape victims. The vote was welcomed by pro-abortionists, who will now push for further legislation to appropriate $50,000 for education about so-called emergency contraception. [The Santa Fe New Mexican online, 11 February ]