A British professor of medical ethics has called for euthanasia to be legal without consent of the patient. Len Doyal, emeritus professor of medical ethics at Queen Mary, University of London, wrote that the law should be changed in an article in the journal Clinical Ethics, published by the Royal S...

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Disability group condemns call for legal killing of disabled people London, - No Less Human (NLH), the pro-life disability rights group, has spoken out against Professor Len Doyal who calls for non-voluntary active euthanasia (NVAE) to be legalised. Alison Davis, national coordinator of NLH, who is...

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Disability rights group criticises end-of-life care guidelines London, 7June 2006 - No Less Human (NLH), the pro-life disability rights group, has criticised the Introductory guide to end of life care in care homes, produced by the National Health Service and the National Council for Palliative Care...

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The British government has published a guide to providing end of life care for residents in care homes. The guide, which has been produced in conjunction with the National Council for Palliative Care (NPC), includes advice on staff training, access to medical help and drugs, GP liaison, and the cult...

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Ireland is planning to contribute over £3m to the UN Population Fund. Conor Lenihan, Minister of State for Development Co-operation and Human Rights, confirmed that the contribution is part of a larger donation of £43.5m to the UN development fund. He said, "Our contributions to the UN have been inc...

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A British mother is suing a drug manufacturer who reportedly failed to warn her about the effects that taking anti-epileptic drugs during pregnancy could have on her unborn child. Saffron Palmer, 36, who suffers from epilepsy, gave birth to a daughter Caitlin two years ago who has now been diagnosed...

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The Canadian branch of Amnesty International has voted for the international organisation to advocate abortion rights. Amnesty International Canada has become the third national branch to approve the suggestion, which was proposed by the international headquarters, following the example of Britain a...

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BPAS (formerly the British Pregnancy Advisory Service) has said that the abortion pill RU-486, mifepristone, accounted for nearly a third of the 32,000 abortions it provided in 2005 to women in the first nine weeks of pregnancy, making BPAS the single biggest provider of the abortion pill in Europe....

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weekly update, 24 to 30 May weekly update, 24 to 30 May A Northern Irish MP has expressed his relief at the failure of Lord Joffe's assisted suicide bill in the House of Lords, but warns that similar legislation is likely to be introduced, in the Lords or Commons. Nigel Dodds, Democratic Unionis...

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The US state of Oklahoma has passed a law which requires at least one parent to consent before a minor can have an abortion. The new law, which was signed into effect on Tuesday, also allows public funding for pro-life counselling and pregnancy support services, and for separate charges to be made w...

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Teenage abortions reached their highest levels to date in Scotland last year, figures published yesterday reveal. 3,304 out of 12,603 abortions were carried out women under 20, with abortions for under 16s rising by 10% to 341. Mario Conti, Archbishop of Glasgow, commented "Today's figures reveal ye...

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weekly update, 17 to 23 May weekly update, 17 to 23 May A spokesman for the Catholic church in Scotland has said that the pregnancy of an 11 year old girl demonstrates that government sex education policies have failed. "Apart from anything else, what has happened is illegal as the girl is under...

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Catholic church officials in Argentina have criticised a proposal, drawn up by a team of so-called legal experts, to widen the grounds on which abortion is legal. Currently abortion is allowed only in the case of pregnancy resulting from rape of a woman with a learning disability or when the mother'...

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An increasing number of parents are aborting children with Down's Syndrome after prenatal tests for the condition, the Daily Telegraph reports. According to research by the Down's Syndrome Association, 62% of Down's Syndrome children are diagnosed in the womb, and 92% of these are aborted. The NHS N...

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A new survey suggests that two-thirds of Irish GPs may be against the abortifacient morning-after pill (MAP) being sold over the counter (OTC). The survey of 106 GPs in Cork, conducted by Dr Fionnula Murphy, found that among the reasons doctors are opposed to MAP being sold OTC are that the MAP is a...

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A British couple anxious to avoid the birth of a second disabled child travelled to Belgium to obtain pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, the Telegraph reports. Mandy and Philip Baum of Twickenham have one healthy son, and one who suffers from a severe condition known as tuberous sclerosis. With a 5...

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weekly update, 10 to 16 May weekly update, 10 to 16 May The House of Lords last week rejected a bill which would have permitted assisted suicide in England and Wales, by 148 votes to 100. Some 90 peers spoke in the debate on the Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill, including many medical ...

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A letter proposing abortion as a eugenic tool written by Ron Weddington, who fought to establish abortion as a 'right' in the US in the Roe v Wade case, has been published by the legal watchdog group 'Judicial Watch'. In the letter, written to President Bill Clinton in January 1993, Weddington argue...

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Spanish police are investigating the suspected so-called mercy killing of Señor Jorge Leon Escudero, 53, who was paralysed from the neck down in an accident six years ago, and needed the help of a ventilator to breathe. He was found dead with his ventilator disconnected, and had apparently been give...

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The upper house of the UK parliament has today rejected a bill which would have permitted assisted suicide in England and Wales, by 148 votes to 100. Some 90 members of the House of Lords spoke in the debate on the Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill, including many medical peers and disabled...

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