News,

A trial scheme under which morning-after pills are given without prescription has been extended so that it will continue until June and will be targeted at teenagers. Ms Edna Robinson, head of the health authority in north-west England which is running the trial, said that it was immoral not to help women under 18 in this way. Nearly 400 women with an average age of 20 have used the service to date, though 15 women were refused the pill because they did not meet criteria. [The Express, 28 February, 2000] The Federal Drug Administration has again delayed approving the RU 486 abortion-pill. Neither the French company which developed the pill nor American drug companies want to market it because they fear boycotts of their entire range of drugs. The Population Council now has the rights to produce the drug. The House of Representatives has passed two bills blocking an FDA review of the drug, though they were not taken up by the Senate. [Zenit, 20 February, 2000] Mr Ian Brady, a convicted murderer, is trying to persuade the high court to stop staff at Ashworth Hospital from feeding him by tube so that he can starve to death. Mr Brady has been on hunger-strike for 152 days. [The Guardian, 28 February, 2000] The Archdiocese of Washington DC's Project Rachel subsidised the insertion of half a million leaflets on post-abortion grief and healing in American newspapers yesterday. The project has also promoted its ministry through advertisements on radio, buses, railways and billboards. [Mr David J Tennessen's digest, 25 February, 2000] The United Nations' three-week-long preparatory meeting for the review of the 1995 Beijing Women's conference begins in New York today. It will be attended by Peter Smith, representing the SPUC Educational Research Trust. 600 families in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, have placed baskets to receive unwanted babies on their front porches. [Mr David J Tennessen's digest, 25 February, 2000] [This bulletin is privately circulated by the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, www.spuc.org.uk, 5/6 St Matthew Street, London, United Kingdom, SW1P 2JT, +44 20 7222 3763. The reliability of the news herein is dependent on that of the cited sources. Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the society. Please forward this bulletin to other interested parties. To unsubscribe, send an appropriate email to information@spuc.freeserve.co.uk]