News, Old people are reportedly going to Mexico to buy pentobarbital to use for suicide. It is said that suicide-supporters publicise the whereabouts of veterinary pharmacies and pet-shops which sell Nembutal for putting down domestic animals. [Reuters, 4 June] A British couple who are expecting n...

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News, A woman in Australia has admitted giving a substance to her partner with which he then committed suicide. Ms Shirley Justins told her trial that she had placed some pentobarbital within easy reach of Mr Graeme Wylie who had Alzheimer's. Ms Caren Jenning, also on trial, has admitted to illega...

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A woman in Australia has admitted giving a substance to her partner with which he then committed suicide. Ms Shirley Justins told her trial that she had placed some pentobarbital within easy reach of Mr Graeme Wylie who had Alzheimer's. Ms Caren Jenning, also on trial, has admitted to illegal import...

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A Scottish governmental agency has published a plan under which nearly three quarters of women requesting an abortion will get one before nine weeks' gestation. Quality Improvement Scotland says there are fewer complications with early abortions. Its report says post-abortion counselling should be p...

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News, A Scottish governmental agency has published a plan under which nearly three quarters of women requesting an abortion will get one before nine weeks' gestation. Quality Improvement Scotland says there are fewer complications with early abortions. Its report says post-abortion counselling sho...

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News, Brazil's supreme court has approved a law permitting human embryo research. The chief prosecutor had raised the legitimacy of the 2005 measure. A lawyers' group called the decision "a victory of knowledge over obscurantism" while the Catholic church called it lamentable and cited successful ...

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The Irish Family Planning Association has disputed the Royal College of Psychiatrists' assertion that abortion can cause trauma in women. Mr Niall Behan, chief executive, was concerned that it played into pro-life campaigners' hands. Professor Mary Boyle, emeritus professor of psychology at East Lon...

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The vice-chairman of the British Labour party's youth movement has resigned from his post after the organisation campaigned on the pro-abortion side when parliament was considering the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill. Mr Conor McGinn, a Catholic who remains a party member, said abortion was ...

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A couple who had twin girls through IVF reportedly want another cycle of treatment to get a son. The 59-year-old mother was refused IVF in Britain because of her age but obtained it in her native India. It was initially reported that the couple had left the twins at the English midlands hospital whe...

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News, The Archbishop of Glasgow has defended the Catholic church from a newspaper's accusation that it has stifled debate on abortion in Scotland, where terminations have reached an all-time high. Most Rev Mario Conti points out that the church has often warned that the country's sexual health str...

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News, The number of abortions in Scotland was the highest ever last year with more than 13,700 performed, nearly four percent more than in 2006. A quarter of abortions were repeats and terminations on under-16s rose. The Catholic church said the news was disheartening and the numbers "beyond the i...

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The number of abortions in Scotland was the highest ever last year with more than 13,700 performed, nearly four percent more than in 2006. A quarter of abortions were repeats and terminations on under-16s rose. The Catholic church said the news was disheartening and the numbers "beyond the imaginati...

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It is suggested that a senior minister will defy her party and abstain from voting on the government's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill. Mrs Ruth Kelly MP, secretary of state for transport, will reportedly not oppose the measure and, thus, may not need to resign her portfolio. [Telegraph, 23 ]...

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News, In the aftermath of UK parliamentary votes on abortion and embryology, the Catholic Archbishop of Westminster has repeated his call for a bioethics commission. Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor praised the quality of this week's House of Commons debate and said a commission would "serve the co...

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News, MPs who vote in an anti-life way should not continue in parliament, according to a Catholic church spokesman. Mr Peter Jennings of the Birmingham archdiocese, England, was commenting in the light of the recent House of Commons initial committee stage of the government's Human Fertilisation a...

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MPs who vote in an anti-life way should not continue in parliament, according to a Catholic church spokesman. Mr Peter Jennings of the Birmingham archdiocese, England, was commenting in the light of the recent House of Commons initial committee stage of the government's Human Fertilisation and Embry...

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The British government's Human Fertilisation and Embryology bill continues to advance, passing its latest House of Commons stage last night. There were attempts to reduce the time-limit for abortion on the non-disabled from 24 weeks to 12, 16, 20 and 22 weeks; all failed. Dr John Pugh, Liberal Democ...

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The leaders of the four main political parties in the Northern Ireland Assembly have signed a letter to all Westminster MPs urging them to vote against any measure which would extend British abortion law to their part of the UK. The signatories are Mr Gerry Adams, Sinn Féin, Mr Mark Durkan, SDLP, Si...

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News, The British government's Human Fertilisation and Embryology bill continues to advance, passing its latest House of Commons stage last night. There were attempts to reduce the time-limit for abortion on the non-disabled from 24 weeks to 12, 16, 20 and 22 weeks; all failed. Dr John Pugh, Liber...

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News, British MPs yesterday rejected proposed curbs on the expansion of embryo research law. The House of Commons blocked amendments to the government's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill which sought to prevent or otherwise limit the creation of human-animal hybrid embryos and 'saviour sibli...

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