News, It is reported that the Irish abortion referendum will probably take place on 28 February. Today's Irish Times cites "reliable sources" which indicate that Mr Bertie Ahern, the taoiseach, is determined to go ahead with the referendum before the general election and has already nominated ...

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News, The Roman Catholic bishops of England and Wales have declared next Sunday, the feast of the Holy Family, a day of witness to the Church's teaching on the sanctity of human life. Parish priests are being urged to incorporate the theme of respect for human life in their homily and prayers ...

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News, Japan's Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology has voted to permit the destruction of human embryos to obtain stem cells for medical research. Guidelines in place since 1985 only allow the destruction of supernumerary in vitro fertilisation embryos for research into fertility, but the rev...

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News, A conference organised by the European Commission aimed at forming a common European policy on stem cell research and cloning has heard that strict laws against the implantation of cloned human embryos will not prevent some scientists attempting it anyway. Professor Linda Neilsen from Co...

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News, The state of Colorado has revoked funding for Planned Parenthood because of the organisation's financial ties with abortion. There is a constitutional ban on the use of taxpayers' money for abortions in Colorado, but Planned Parenthood attempted to circumvent the ban two years ago by form...

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News, New research has suggested that emissions from motor vehicles are more dangerous for unborn children than had been previously thought. Researchers at the University of California found that unborn children whose mothers were exposed to high levels of carbon monoxide were three times more...

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News, A bill which defines abortion as taking place after implantation passed its final stages in the Irish parliament yesterday but there are disagreements in the coalition government over the timing of a referendum on incorporating its provisions into the Irish constitution. Mr Bertie Ahern,...

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News, The British authority which regulates fertility treatment is allowing the selection of embryos on the grounds of whether their tissue matches a sibling who needs a transplant. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) made its decision in the light of a request from a coupl...

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Human embryo's status further eroded Human embryo's status further eroded Westminster, --The decision of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority to sanction the use of PGD (pre-implantation genetic diagnosis) to enable children to be born for use as transplant donors has been condemned ...

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Irish bishops' advice on abortion referendum condemned by UK pro life group Irish bishops' advice on abortion referendum condemned by UK pro-life group Westminster, --The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (UK) has responded with grave disquiet at the decision of the Irish bishops to ...

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News, The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (UK) has responded with grave disquiet at the decision of the Irish bishops to "welcome and support the new proposal" for amending the Irish constitution on abortion. The proposal includes a radical new definition of abortion which means ...

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News, A fertility expert intends to open a clinic in London where customers could select babies through pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) to serve as tissue or organ donors for sick siblings. Dr Mohammed Taranissi claims that a legal loophole will allow him to proceed even if the Human ...

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News, Pro-lifers in the Irish Republic have claimed that an amendment to the country's constitution has been proposed in order to legalise embryo experimentation. Mr Justin Barrett of the Mother and Child Campaign cited the vote in the European parliament on the 14th of last month to authorise...

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News, European Union leaders will vote on Monday on a budget which could finance research on aborted foetuses, embryos generated for fertility treatment, embryonic stem cells and human cloning. Pro-lifers in the EU are being urged to contact their countries' ministers with responsibility for r...

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News, One of the two houses of the Irish parliament has passed a bill to amend the country's constitution concerning abortion. Members of the Dáil Éireann approved the measure by 74 votes to 71. The opposition leader criticised the government for curtailing debate. John Smeaton, national direc...

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News, The British government has welcomed the conclusions of an advisory committee that children under 16 should be offered easier access to surgical and chemical abortion. The first report of the Independent Advisory Group on Teenage Pregnancy, which was set up last year as part of the govern...

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News, As many as 22,000 women residents of England and Wales could have developed breast cancer because they obtained legal abortions, according to the Life organisation. Life was commenting on Abortion and other pregnancy-related risk factors in female breast cancer which it commissioned from...

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News, US Senators will today vote on a six-month ban on human cloning which is part of an amendment covering several issues proposed by Senator Trent Lott, leader of the Republican minority. [Washington Post, 30 November ] On Friday we reported that the Senate would not examine an anti-cloning...

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News, The creation of cloned human embryos through ovum nucleus replacement remains unregulated in the United Kingdom, though it is now against the law to place an embryo not created by fertilisation in a woman's womb. The British government yesterday pushed its Human Reproductive Cloning Bill...

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News, The House of Lords, England's highest court, has dismissed Mrs Dianne Pretty's request for a "right to die". The panel of five law lords ruled unanimously that human rights legislation existed to protect life and that, in the words of Lord Bingham, "mercy killing is in law killing". The ...

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