Thursday, 16 February 2012

Must-read pro-life news-stories, Thu 16 Feb

Nikki Kenward, anti-euthanasia campaigner
Top stories:

UK IVF regulator making millions from fees
Britain's IVF regulator has made millions of pounds from fees levied on IVF centres. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) charges £75 per patient. [Independent, 16 February] Anthony Ozimic of SPUC commented: "This is yet more evidence indicating that IVF is mainly an industry run for the benefit of vested interests, rather than a medical answer for couples anxious to conceive."

Draft bill by UK gay lobby would abolish terms 'husband' and 'wife'
A bill drafted by Stonewall, the gay lobby group, to legalise gay marriage would abolish the terms 'husband' and 'wife' in English law. The bill would also allow civil partnerships to be re-named as marriages. The bill was drafted ahead of a government consultation on legalising gay marriage. [Peter Saunders, 15 February]

Other stories:

Abortion
Euthanasia
Sexual ethics
  • Listen to SPUC's Christine Hudson speak out against secret birth control implants for schoolgirls [John Smeaton, 16 February]
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at 10:44

Listen to SPUC's Christine Hudson speak out against secret birth control implants for schoolgirls

Christine Hudson, a parent and SPUC activist, was interviewed last week on the BBC's PM programme about secret birth control implants for schoolgirls. You can listen to Christine's excellent contribution on SPUC's YouTube channel or by clicking on the video box below. We apologise for the imperfect quality of the audio.



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at 07:36

Wednesday, 15 February 2012

Must-read pro-life news-stories, Wed 15 February

40 Days For Life banquet
Top stories:

Groundbreaking weekend for pro-lifers in London
The US founders of the 40 Days For Life initiative are visiting the UK. David Bereit and Shawn Carney have so far visited pro-lifers in London, Birmingham and Manchester. Almost 200 people attended the inaugural 40 Days For Life banquet in Westminster cathedral hall. [SPUC youth blog, 13 February]

UK doctors' union proposes radical changes to organ donation system 
The British Medical Association (BMA) has proposed radical changes to organ donation system.  The changes include presumed consent for organ removal as well as keeping patients alive solely to enable organ removal. [Telegraph, 13 February] In a separate move, two US bioethicists have argued for the abolition of the dead-donor organ removal rule. Anthony Ozimic of SPUC commented: “The authors of this obnoxious paper have forgotten the lessons of the 20th century of the consequences of making the right to life dependent upon the possession of abilities. The authors should read the famous 1941 sermon of Blessed Clemens Cardinal von Galen against the Nazi euthanasia programme, who said: ‘Once admit the right to kill unproductive persons . . . then none of us can be sure of his life.’”    [LifeSiteNews.com, 8 February]

Other stories:

Abortion
Embryology
Euthanasia
Population
Sexual ethics
Population
  • US university planned master race for post-war UK, suggests author [Mail, 13 February]
General
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at 16:58

Wednesday, 8 February 2012

Archbishop of Canterbury warns of "disaster" if assisted suicide mirrors abortion dynamic

Earlier this week Dr Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury and head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, addressed the Church of England's General Synod during a debate on assisted suicide. Among other things, Dr Williams said (full text, audio):
"[T]here have been a number of discussions in Parliament in recent years on this subject, and the emergence of this so-called Independent Commission and its report prompts the question “What has changed to make a re-opening of the question necessary?” Paradoxically, the answer seems to be that the only thing that has changed, and that is still changing, is advances in medical science and in palliative care. In other words, changes in exactly the direction which suggests that we do not need a change in the law such as envisaged.

...

"Law exists so that people may be protected, especially the vulnerable. Law exists to guarantee equality of protection to all.

...

"What we are faced with here in these proposals from the Commission is a legal outcome in which protection is diminished, not only for vulnerable individuals but also for medical professionals. A point has been made, and it needs to be made again, that it is front-line physicians who are going to find themselves more and more in a deeply uncomfortable – perhaps unsustainable – place in all this.

...

"The default position on abortion has shifted quite clearly over the past 40 years, and to see the default position shifting on the sanctity of life would be a disaster.

...

"To say that there are certain conditions in which life is legally declared to be not worth living is a major shift in the moral and spiritual atmosphere in which we live ... [T]o change the law on this subject is, I believe, to change something vital in our sense of the value of life itself."
Thankfully the General Synod voted overwhelmingly to "affirm the intrinsic value of every human life and express its support for the current law on assisted suicide".

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at 17:34

Watch SPUC's Anthony McCarthy speak on Channel 4 about gay marriage

Anthony McCarthy, SPUC's education and publications manager, this week appeared on Channel Four's 4thought.tv series to speak on the subject of gay marriage. You can watch Anthony's appearance here.

Anthony said that neither the church nor the state has the right to redefine marriage; and that to try to change the heterosexual nature of marriage is to undermine an institution which protects children and society. You can read more about SPUC's position on gay marriage in our position paper and background paper.

I appeared on 4thought.tv in November 2010 on abortion, and Anthony Ozimic, SPUC's communications manager, appeared in June last year on organ donation.

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at 14:57

Today's must-read pro-life news-stories, Wed 8 Feb

Photo showing size of implants
Top stories:

13-year-old girls fitted secretly with birth control implants
13-year-old girls at nine schools in Southampton, England, have been fitted with birth control implants without their parents' knowledge. Norman Wells, director of the Family Education Trust, said: "Schemes like these inevitably lead to boys putting pressure on girls to have sex. The last thing they should be doing is fuelling the flames of promiscuity and the sexual health crisis with schemes that treat parents, the law and basic moral principles with contempt." [Telegraph, 8 February] John Smeaton, SPUC director, commented: "These implants not only act as contraceptives, but can also act as abortifacients, killing newly-conceived embryos by stopping them from implanting in the womb."

Leader of Anglican Communion says legalising assisted suicide would spell "disaster"
Dr Rowan Williams, the leader of the Anglican Communion, has said that legalising assisted suicidewould spell "disaster". Addressing a General Synod debate, Dr Williams said: "[T]o change the law on this subject is, I believe, to change something vital in our sense of the value of life itself." The synod voted overwhelmingly to "affirm the intrinsic value of every human life and express its support for the current law on assisted suicide" [Archbishop of Canterbury, 6 February]

Morning-after pills dispensed by vending machine at US university
Students at a university in the American state of Pennsylvania can buy morning-after pills from a vending machine. The machine also provides condoms and pregnancy tests. [Mail, 7 February] According to the manufacturers, morning-after pills may cause early abortions by preventing embryos implanting in the womb.

Other stories:

General
  • Sarah Palin’s touching account of living with a son with Down’s syndrome [Mail, 6 February]
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at 10:53
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