The Government has announced a draft code of practice for the Mental Capacity Act, the 2005 law which enshrines euthanasia by neglect in English law. The government has invited the public to make submissions to a consultation on the draft code until 2nd June. [Department for Constitutional Affairs, ]...

[Read the rest of this article...]

A journalist from Birmingham, UK, has been arrested on suspicion of murder after she described in her column for the Birmingham Mail how she used morphine to kill her great aunt Eileen O'Sullivan, who suffered from lung cancer. Maureen Messent, who describes herself as a Roman Catholic, said it neve...

[Read the rest of this article...]

News, The parents of a severely disabled boy, known as MB, are fighting a case in the UK High Court to prevent doctors from removing the artificial ventilation which enables him to stay alive. A doctor giving evidence in court this week said that, due to his severe and worsening paralysis, MB is l...

[Read the rest of this article...]

News, The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, has today ruled that a woman may not have frozen IVF embryos implanted after her partner withdrew his consent to the procedure. Ms Natallie Evans and Mr Howard Johnston had IVF treatment when she contracted cancer, but their relations...

[Read the rest of this article...]

The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, has today ruled that a woman may not have frozen IVF embryos implanted after her partner withdrew his consent to the procedure. Ms Natallie Evans and Mr Howard Johnston had IVF treatment when she contracted cancer, but their relationship ende...

[Read the rest of this article...]

weekly update 25 February weekly update 25 February - 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 th...

[Read the rest of this article...]

The Pope has told the general assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life that human life is good, "always and definitively." Benedict XVI said: "The love of God does not distinguish between the newly-conceived infant still in its mother's womb, the baby, the youth, the grown adult or the elderly, b...

[Read the rest of this article...]

News, The Pope has told the general assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life that human life is good, "always and definitively." Benedict XVI said: "The love of God does not distinguish between the newly-conceived infant still in its mother's womb, the baby, the youth, the grown adult or the el...

[Read the rest of this article...]

News, It is reported that the condition of toddler Charlotte Wyatt has worsened. Charlotte is reportedly in a serious but stable condition in hospital following a viral lung infection. Charlotte's medical treatment has been the focus of recurrent legal battles since her premature birth two years a...

[Read the rest of this article...]

The Prison Service has allowed a prisoner to starve himself to death. Terry Rodgers, who was awaiting trial for murder, died after conducting a hunger strike in Lincoln jail. A Prison Service spokeswoman said: "The principle is that artificial nutrition and hydration - force-feeding, in other words ...

[Read the rest of this article...]

The Australian senate's decision to remove ministerial control over applications to use the abortion drug, RU486, does not represent the views of Australian women, according to a study by the Southern Cross Bioethics Institute (SCBI) in Adelaide. A spokesperson for the SCBI, who commissioned the res...

[Read the rest of this article...]

An economics expert has called for the government to consider dismissing its advisers on teenage pregnancy after new statistics revealed the continuing failure of the government's strategy to reduce the incidence of teenage pregnancies. David Paton, professor of economics at Nottingham University Bu...

[Read the rest of this article...]

News, An economics expert has called for the government to consider dismissing its advisers on teenage pregnancy after new statistics revealed the continuing failure of the government's strategy to reduce the incidence of teenage pregnancies. David Paton, professor of economics at Nottingham Unive...

[Read the rest of this article...]

News, Pro-life campaigners, the Catholic Church and the Church of Scotland have condemned a booklet that guides people through the process of obtaining assisted suicide at the Swiss clinic run by Dignitas. A spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland said: "Groups and material like this clearly...

[Read the rest of this article...]

Pro-life campaigners, the Catholic Church and the Church of Scotland have condemned a booklet that guides people through the process of obtaining assisted suicide at the Swiss clinic run by Dignitas. A spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland said: "Groups and material like this clearly do enco...

[Read the rest of this article...]

The Australian parliament has voted to overturn the veto on the abortion drug RU-486. The drug was previously available only on application to the Health Minister, Tony Abbot. After an impassioned debate in which speakers drew on personal experiences, the House of Representatives voted to scrap his ...

[Read the rest of this article...]

News, The Australian parliament has voted to overturn the veto on the abortion drug RU-486. The drug was previously available only on application to the Health Minister, Tony Abbot. After an impassioned debate in which speakers drew on personal experiences, the House of Representatives voted to sc...

[Read the rest of this article...]

Weekly Update 8- A nurse on trial in Germany has admitted killing a number of patients in his care and has said that his actions were motivated by compassion but 'cannot be justified under any circumstances.' Stephan Letter, 27, faces 16 murder counts which he has asked to be converted to manslaught...

[Read the rest of this article...]

An American woman who is three feet tall and weighs less than three stone has given birth to a healthy baby after being warned that her chances of having children were a million to one. Eloysa Vasquez, 38, who suffers from a genetic condition that stunts bone growth and uses a wheelchair, gave birth...

[Read the rest of this article...]

News, Leading heart and pregnancy specialists have warned that women born with heart disease are 100 times more likely to die during pregnancy than other women. A report on the problems faced by pregnant women with congenital heart problems was published by doctors at the Royal Brompton and Harefi...

[Read the rest of this article...]