News, A United Nations body is pressing the United Kingdom to extend Britain's liberal abortion law to Northern Ireland. The Committee for the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) calls for a consultation on the matter and urges the UK: "to give consideration to th...

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News, The British government has affirmed its intention to permit the creation of human-animal hybrid embryos. After the announcement of the legislative programme for the new parliamentary year, Anthony Ozimic, SPUC political secretary, commented: "Today is a fateful day for Britain and for the wo...

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News, The British Medical Association (BMA) has said that women should be able to get abortion on demand and that it should be carried out by midwives and nurses. The BMA's ethics committee published a briefing paper supporting changes to the Abortion Act to speed up treatment for women who are le...

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News, A panel of American scientists has called for more scrutiny of human embryonic stem cell studies published by scientific journals. The panel was commissioned by Science, which previously published two fabricated papers by the North Korean researcher Hwang Woo-suk, who falsely claimed to have...

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News, Pro-life activists have criticised the decision by an American Catholic diocese to allow two pro-abortion politicians to sponsor a charity event on church premises. Richard Malone, the diocese's bishop, defended his decision, saying that the charity, which helps low-income families heat thei...

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News, The Pope has told parliamentarians from the European Popular Party that the first principle of all politicians should be "protection of life in all its stages, from the first moment of conception to natural death." Speaking on 30 March in Rome, Benedict XVI named three principles that all po...

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News, The press are speculating that three British cabinet ministers could defy an instruction from their party to support their government's Human Fertilisation and Embryology bill. Ms Ruth Kelly and Messrs Des Browne and Paul Murphy, all Catholic MPs, are said to be contemplating a rebellion. T...

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News, The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has raised the possibility of infanticide for disabled babies. The college's submission to a bioethical enquiry is quoted as saying: "A very disabled child can mean a disabled family ... If life-shortening and deliberate interventions to ...

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News, The man most likely to be the next British prime minister has in general an equally bad record on life-related issues as Mr Tony Blair, the incumbent. Mr Gordon Brown MP, currently the Labour government's Chancellor of the Exchequer (chief finance minister), is expected to succeed Mr Blair f...

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News, The Telegraph has reported that the UK Government may make it compulsory for medical professionals to alert police if a girl under 13 seeks contraceptive advice. The British Medical Association and General Medical Council advise doctors that they should report such cases to the police or soc...

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News, A UK doctor who was struck off for hastening a patient's death by removing his life support may face prosecution. The General Medical Council ruled last month that Dr Ann David took "active measures" to end the life of Robert Symons, 60, "prematurely" in the face of opposition from his wife ...

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News, Note: we apologise for the absence of the news-summary in recent weeks during the summer period. This edition is an omnibus edition containing links to stories during that period. Support 40 days for life in the UK 40 days for life, an international pro-life campaign, is being launched in ...

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News, Parliamentarians have produced a report on the government's draft Human Tissue and Embryos Bill and SPUC is deeply concerned about it. If the committee has its way, wide areas of embryo research would be exempt from licensing and the regulatory authority would have unprecedented new power. T...

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News, British Health Minister Caroline Flint has said in a leaked memo to Prime Minister Tony Blair that pro-life members of parliament are "plotting" to "hijack" a Government Bill to reduce the time limit for some abortions. She said "There is a possibility that some members (of parliament) may w...

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News, In its statement to the 51st session of the Commission on the Status of Women [Holy See Mission, 2 March], the Holy See delegation highlighted issues of prostitution, forced marriages and sex selective abortion. "[A]bortion, often considered a tool of liberation, is ironically employed by wo...

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News, A review of 23 studies on the use of morning-after pills has concluded that, "[t]o date, no study has shown that increased access to this method reduces unintended pregnancy or abortion rates". Writing in this month's Obstetrics and Gynecology, the researchers nevertheless supported the avai...

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News, A Scottish man suffering from a degenerative disease has again been refused an assurance that, when his condition deteriorates, doctors will give him artificial nutrition and hydration. The European Court of Human Rights upheld the decision of the English Court of Appeal last year in the cas...

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News, A judge in the English High Court issued orders last Friday giving two hospitals in the north of England permission to withdraw artificial nutrition and hydration from two patients considered to be in permanent vegetative states. This follows the precedent set by the case of Tony Bland in 19...

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News, The Catholic Education Service (CES) of England and Wales has helped to draft the government's anti-life/anti-family sex education draft guidance. The draft guidance promotes abortion, contraception and homosexuality. Oona Stannard of the CES has described the guidance as "a positive step fo...

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News, UK teenage pregnancy figures have rocketed under the government's supposed crackdown 10 years ago, statistics have shown. The Department of Health, which set a target of halving reducing teenage pregnancies by 2010, has admitted that "progress needs to accelerate" following the news that the...

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