Wednesday, 25 February 2015

Amendment against sex-selective abortion defeated in Parliament

Fiona Bruce MP
British MPs voted yesterday to reject an amendment put forward by Fiona Bruce MP to clarify the law regarding sex-selective abortion. The Conservative MP said that her amendment would "clarify beyond doubt in statute that sex selective abortion is illegal in UK law". The amendment was defeated by 292 votes to 201. Opponents said that the amendment might "confer personhood on the foetus". [BBC, 24 February]

House of Lords passes of three-parent embryo regulations
The House of Lords has passed regulations to allow the creation of three-parent embryos. Peers rejected a motion against the regulations by 280 votes to 48. The regulations will now become law, making the UK the first country to allow the technique. [BBC, 24 February] Paul Tully, SPUC's general secretary, said: "Legislators have been consistently misled in the past about the prospects of success and the future intentions of those who want to use the tiniest humans - human embryos - for experiments." [SPUC, 24 February]

Finland legalises gender-neutral marriage
The President of Finland has signed legislation to legalise gender-neutral marriage. Sauli Niinistö confirmed the new law which will come into effect on March 1, 2017. The law has been described as historic because it is the first law to be brought to the Finnish parliament as a citizen’s initiative, signed by 167,000 Finnish voters. [Yie, 20 February]

Irish PM pledges support for same-sex ‘marriage’
Enda Kenny, Ireland's prime minister, has declared his support for same-sex 'marriage', despite previously being opposed to it. Mr Kenny made the declaration in a speech to Fine Gael supporters. A referendum on same-sex ‘marriage’ will be held in Ireland in May 2015. [Journal, 23 February]

Other issues:

Abortion:
Embryology
  • Human egg and sperm cells could be created using skins from two adults of the same sex [February 23, International Business Times]
Family issues:
Pregnancy:
Baby is born in an intact amniotic sack [Essential Baby, 18 February]

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Young pro-lifers should book now for SPUC's youth conference

Rhoslyn is busy spreading the word about the upcoming Youth Conference in Southport (6-8 March) where another excellent line-up of speakers will help to form the next generation of pro-life activists. The talks given at that conference will be published on this blog over the coming weeks.

Once again, Rhoslyn has sent me an item about last year's youth conference - with a view to encouraging young people to attend this year's  exciting event ... Young people interested in attending should write to Rhoslyn at rhoslynthomas@spuc.org.uk:
Below are the next two presentations from last year’s youth conference, held in Telford.

The videos show Fiorella Nash’s talk ‘Men and Abortion’ and the closing address, delivered by SPUC’s Director, John Smeaton.

At a time when Feminism has become intimately connected with support for abortion on demand, pro-life feminists, such as Fiorella Nash, are few and far between.

Fiorella’s talks are always popular at the youth conference, perhaps because the youth of today crave arguments which incorporate an emphasis on the equality (and complimentarity) of the sexes with an equal emphasis on the sanctity of motherhood and children.

John Smeaton, SPUC's chief executive, gave a rousing talk to close another excellent conference, imbuing attendees with a sense of the urgency of the situation, whilst inspiring them to continue with their endeavours to protect human life from conception to natural death.




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Tuesday, 24 February 2015

Lords should reject 3-parent embryo regulations

House of Lords
SPUC has called on members of the House of Lords is to reject the so-called "three-parent" embryo regulations being debated in the upper chamber today. The procedure is said to be necessary to help families affected by rare mitochondrial diseases.

These regulations (the Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Mitochondrial Donation) Regulations) are designed to usher in the cloning of human embryos. The manipulation of the human germ line would be permitted for the first time, contrary to modern international biomedicine agreements and long-standing ethical principles.

Commenting on the background to today's debate, Paul Tully, SPUC's general secretary, told the media today:
"The 1990 Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act was not intended to permit human cloning, and so the alteration of germ-line genetic material was forbidden. The restrictions have been repeatedly weakened, however, and this is a further stage in dismantling the so-called safeguards of the embryology law.

It is often supposed that the objection to germ-line modification is that it will lead to the creation of either 'monsters' or super-humans. Neither outcome is likely. Instead, many embryos will die in the efforts to restructure their genetic make-up.

The reality is that we know far too little about mitochondria to know what impact the cloning process would have on mitochondrial disease. It is true that the mitochondria carry very few genes but scores of other genes needed by mitochondria are stored in the cell nucleus. Transferring the nucleus of an ovum or an embryo to another cell cannot be predicted to have any certain benefit.

The proponents of embryo research have repeatedly held out promises of cures and medical advances in the field of inherited conditions. But the benefits have always failed to materialise, and we suspect that the same is happening again here. The parents of children affected by mitochondrial disease are being exploited to support unethical experiments, based on the false hope that their children will benefit.

Legislators have been consistently misled in the past about the prospects of success and the future intentions of those who want to use the tiniest humans - human embryos - for experiments. They should reject today's proposals."
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Monday, 23 February 2015

No pro-life leader will match Dr Jack Willke's worldwide educational impact: May he rest in peace!



Pictured above left to right in September 2009 at SPUC's London office are:
Dr Jack Willke, the father of the worldwide pro-life movement, who died last Friday, has been a friend and collaborator of SPUC's for over 40 years. He was 89. May he rest in peace.

To understand something of the full significance of Jack's life and work - shared by Barbara his beloved wife - read the obituaries in the National Review Online, and the Washington Post.

No other pro-life leader or organisation will match the solid educational work done by Jack and Barbara Willke through their books and lectures. And for virtually the whole of their active pro-life service, they did it without the aid of the worldwide web.

Their title Handbook on Abortion, the New York Times tells us, sold a million and a half copies - and there were so many other titles besides ... Other significant publications included: Abortion and Slavery, History Repeats and Assisted Suicide & Euthanasia, Past & Present and they co-authored six other books on human sexuality which have been translated into 30 languages. Five years ago they had clocked up 87 countries in which they had lectured ... and rising ... He also broadcast on 400 radio stations - one-minute pro-life messages in a programme entitled "Life Jewels". Jack was a pro-life marketing genius. Brad Mattes, his successor (see below) has kept up this remarkable broadcasting output since Jack stepped back a few years ago. His legacy is alive and very well.

SPUC's presentation in schools, albeit updated with the latest research and delivered with the aid of all that modern technology provides, is fundamentally based on the Willke slide presentation which I personally watched them present in The Philippines, in the UK, in Kenya and elsewhere.

I had the honour of serving as joint vice-president of International Right to Life Federation, with Jim Hughes, Canada's Campaign Life Coalition national president, during the final years of Jack's presidency - now succeeded by Brad Mattes who also succeeded Jack as president of Life Issues Institute.

During Jack's visit to the UK in September 2009 (see picture above), Jack delivered a message of hope to SPUC's national conference in which he said: “We must keep doing what we’re doing. It’s slow but we shall win in the end.” One could not lose the argument, he said, when one advanced the case that abortion killed babies.

On behalf of my colleagues in SPUC, and our thousands of supporters, I sent heartfelt condolences and a promise of prayers to Jack's family, his six children and 22 grandchildren. May he rest in peace.

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Friday, 20 February 2015

Surgery no cure for “gender confusion”

I am grateful, once again, to the excellent Family Education Trust's January bulletin, which reports on a Wall Street Journal article about another deeply negative dimension of sex  education and its potential disastrous impact on our children's lives.

A top psychiatrist, writing in the Wall Street Journal, has written of the dangers arising from an “everything is normal” sex education. He writes of school “diversity counsellors” who promote transgender surgery as a means of banishing psycho-social problems, and who (“rather like cult leaders”) encourage youngsters to distance themselves from families advising against such drastic actions. Paul McHugh’s article was entitled TransgenderSurgery Isn’t the Solution.

If you are concerned about what is happening in schools in the name of sex education, please contact SPUC at politics@spuc.org.uk to find out how you can challenge parliamentary candidates in the forthcoming general election on this issue and on other vital pro-life issues.

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Wednesday, 18 February 2015

Department for Education promotes “traffic light” tool that condones under-age sex

In a fact-packed January bulletin, the excellent Family Education Trust carries a compelling story on its front page showing how guidance backed by the Department for Education is encouraging unlawful sexual activity. (The Family Education Trust is a charity committed to researching the causes and consequences of family breakdown and promoting the welfare of children and young people.)

The UK law is clear that sexual activity under the age of 16 is unlawful. Nevertheless, the Department for Education has funded[1] and recommended as a useful resource a Brook “traffic light” system that condones underage sex. The system has been adopted by at least one County Council[2]. (Brook Advisory Service is one of Britain's leading abortion referral organisations, specialising in advising young people - including those under 16 - about abortion, sex, STIs etc). 

The traffic light system is not distributed to young people but is intended to “inform” teachers and other professionals working with children and young people.

The tool identifies green, amber and red behaviours. Green behaviours – according to Brook – “reflect safe and healthy sexual development”[3], and “provide opportunities to give positive feedback”. Those behaviours include “consenting oral and/or penetrative sex with others of the same or opposite gender who are of similar age and developmental ability” – even where those engaged in the activities are in the 13-15 age group.

Activities classified as amber rather than red include “following others into toilets or changing rooms to look at them or touch them” and “pulling other children’s pants down/skirts up/trousers down against their will”. These behaviours, according to Brook, merely “have the potential”[4] to be unsafe and unhealthy behaviour.

Brook have denied that the tool condones any particular sexual behaviours, but Norman Wells, director of the Family Education Trust, comments that “if giving positive feedback to sexually active children aged 13, 14 and 15 isn’t condoning and encouraging underage sex, then I don’t know what is!”.

If you are concerned about what is happening in schools in the name of sex education, please contact SPUC at politics@spuc.org.uk to find out how you can challenge parliamentary candidates in the forthcoming general election on this issue and on other vital pro-life issues.


[1] The funding is confirmed at http://www.foundationpsa.org.uk/page.asp?ID=16
[2] Cornwall County Council – March 2014 – see http://www.cllrandrewwallis.co.uk/cornwall-council-launches-traffic-light-tool-for-positive-relationships-and-healthy-sexual-development/
[3] See http://www.brook.org.uk/old/index.php/guidance?tid=6
[4] See http://www.brook.org.uk/old/index.php/traffic-light-tool-0-to-5

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Tuesday, 17 February 2015

Parents must be at the centre of sex education, says Safe at School

Antonia Tully
SPUC's Safe at School campaign has said that parents must be at the centre of sex education, in response to the report from the House of Commons Education Committee on PSHE and SRE in schools.

Antonia Tully of Safe at School told the media this morning:
"Parents constantly find themselves having to battle with schools in order to protect their children from inappropriate sex education. The recommendation from the Education Committee that parents can continue to withdraw their children from sex education, isn't addressing this problem."

We don't need new sex education guidelines either. We already have guidelines for schools which repeatedly stress that parents must be involved. What is missing is a robust mechanism to ensure that schools really do engage with parents.
Parents are the primary educators of their children, they are natural sex educators of their children and they are the experts on their own children."
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Monday, 16 February 2015

Both you and I are incompatible with life, Ms Daly

Clare Daly TD
Last Tuesday, a pro-abortion private member's bill was defeated in the Dáil (the Irish Parliament) by 104 votes to 20.

The Bill, introduced by Clare Daly TD (pictured), of the Socialist Party, was defeated by 104 votes to 20. The bill was designed to allow abortion in the cases of babies with life limiting conditions i.e. babies who are expected to die at birth or soon after.

Patrick Buckley, Director of European Life Network Ireland and one of SPUC's UN consultants, says:
"There has been a persistent attempt by Clare Daly and her pro-abortion colleagues to legalise abortion of children with life limiting conditions, such as anencephaly and Trisomy 18 or 13 - children who are being callously described by Daly ond others as being ‘incompatible with life’.

"This most inhumane attack on the most vulnerable members of our society was perpetrated under the guise of women’s rights and it must be resisted at all costs. Disabled babies have a right to life, the most fundamental right, shared by all members of the human family."
In the event, the bill was deemed to be unconstitutional, due to clause 40.3.3. (the Eighth Amendment) of the Irish constitution which states:
“The State acknowledges the right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother, guarantees in its laws to respect, and, as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate that right.”
Enda Kenny, the Prime Minister, had been briefed by the Irish Attorney General that the bill was unconstitutional and the cabinet as well as all Labour TDs were told to vote against the bill for this reason.

Clare Daly during the Dáil debate disputed the unconstitutionality of the bill and has called for a referendum to repeal the Eight Amendment.

Pat Buckley warns:
“It would be foolish to take comfort from the result on the basis that the government could not have voted in favour of a bill they had been advised was unconstitutional. There is no doubt that Daly mounted a strong campaign judging by the fact that many of those who voted against the bill expressed sympathy with its objectives, including the Minister for Health Leo Varadkar. Three members of the Fianna Fail party also voted for it, including the health and justice spokesmen. Daly’s approach ignores the hundreds of women who decide to give life a chance and allow their babies to live as long as they possibly can. It is also very hurtful to such women when Daly and her colleagues describe their babies as ‘non-viable’ and ‘incompatible with life’.”
I would add: "Incompatible with life", in this context, means a person will die, as does "non-viable". Just in case you don't know, Ms Daly, if you must use such language, both you and I are "incompatible with life" and "non-viable".

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Friday, 13 February 2015

Cardinal Burke visits England in March


SPUC is pleased to announce a talk by Cardinal Raymond Burke, patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta Remaining in the truth of Christ on holy matrimony on Friday, 6th March, 2015, at 7 pm, at Abbey Suite, Doubletree by Hilton Hotel, Warrington Road, Chester, CH2 3PD. All are welcome. Admission free.  

Cardinal Burke is also speaking at SPUC’s youth conference. The SPUC Youth Conference will take place from the 6-8th of March 2015 at the Ramada Plaza Hotel in Southport. It is a unique opportunity to motivate the pro-life youth to go out and spread the pro-life message. The price of the youth conference is £100, including all meals and accommodation. Contact rhoslynthomas@spuc.org.uk A few sponsored places are available.

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Thursday, 12 February 2015

See how SPUC's youth conference forms the next pro-life generation

Rhoslyn Thomas, head of the Youth & Students division, has sent me the following report on last year's Youth Conference in Telford. Rhoslyn hopes to spread the word about the upcoming Youth Conference in Southport (6-8 March) where another excellent line-up of speakers will help to form the next generation of pro-life activists. The talks given at that conference will be published on this blog over the coming weeks.

Below are the recordings of two talks delivered at last year’s International Youth Conference 2014, held in Telford. The conference was very well received with a top range of speakers, as can be seen from the YouTube videos.

The first video shows a debate between Dr. Helen Watt of the Anscombe Centre and Dr. Anthony McCarthy of SPUC. The debate is designed to be an example of arguments used for and against abortion from a philosophical position, with Dr. McCarthy playing devil’s advocate and Dr. Helen Watt putting forward the pro-life position.

Example debate between Dr. Helen Watt of the Anscombe Centre 
and Dr. Anthony McCarthy of SPUC


The following video is of a talk delivered by Dr. William Newton, Associate Professor of Theology at the Franciscan University of Steubenville, Austria Progam. Dr. Newton’s talk points out with great clarity the relationship between a contraceptive culture and abortion. He examines the practical consequences of society’s changing views on sex and how practically abortions flows from such changes in attitude.

Relationship between a contraceptive culture and abortion
Dr William Newton

This year, the SPUC Youth Conference will take place from the 6-8th of March 2015 at the Ramada Plaza Hotel in Southport. The line-up of speakers will include Cardinal Burke, the newly appointed patron of the Sovereign Order of Malta. The title of Cardinal Burke’s talk will be: The New Evangelisation of the Fallen Christian West.

The Youth Conference is a unique opportunity to unite and motivate the pro-life youth to go out and spread the pro-life message amongst their peers, as well as in their families and communities. Amongst young people, some are enthusiastic but lack proper up-to-date information, others are well-informed but need to be inspired to carry on the pro-life fight. The youth conference serves both groups: simultaneously educating and motivating the youth of today.

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Tuesday, 10 February 2015

Albert Gibson's love poem to Betty Gibson, my friend and great pro-life figure

Yesterday I had the pleasure of visiting Albert Gibson in Belfast - with whom I'm pictured (right). Albert is the patriarch of the Gibson family, a family which has provided truly great pro-life leadership in Northern Ireland for 35 years.

At 93, Albert is full of life. He gets the bus into town every day to go to Mass. He meets Gerard, his eldest son every week in town to play chess. Albert has won awards for his poetry and he has plans to publish his latest work Requiem sans Musique in the near future.

Above all he lives for love - love of his family and love of Betty, who died on 4th August 2009, for whom he goes to Mass to pray daily. May she rest in peace.

As well as making and serving the dinners in the local primary school, Betty raised her family and led the pro-life battle in Northern Ireland for 30 years. She was one of the most well-informed pro-lifers I've ever met and politicians of all parties and faiths in Northern Ireland held her in the highest respect. My personal friendship with Betty and her family has been a joy and anchor for me for over three decades.

Albert's Requiem without Music begins with some verses which speak of the love they shared. He has
kindly given me permission to reproduce these verses, entitled "Lovely Days":
Lovely are my gentle hills
in the sun of summer bathing.
Across the sky fleeced and white,
Heaven's sheep are grazing.
And I, and I with no regrets
feel young in Love and happy.
Gentle are my lovely hills,
precious autumn falling,
rich and golden from on high
on this land so blessed.
And I, and I more grateful yet
for Love is poured out on me.
Shrouded now my silent hills
in mists and rains that curtain
and slowly trail 'mid quiet trees
in streams, Joys not forgotten.
And I, and I can speak of Love,
the fountain, pure, eternal.
Green, green my Antrim hills,
alive, awake, a'stirring
with strong new growth
and birds in Love
with the world renewing.
And I, and I, sweet reverie
those lovely days recalling,
regretting none, relive each one
my life of Joy with Betty.
That my eyes should see
on Belfast Lough,
'neath a sky bruised red and bleeding
as the dying sun leaves us both alone,
the lough's last horizon
And you, and I, our arms entwined
shall stroll to Love's Beginning.

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Friday, 6 February 2015

Canada’s top court rules doctors can help kill patients; overturns assisted suicide law

John-Henry Westen (pictured, the editor of LifeSite news, has just issued the following statement. It contains news of a truly shocking development in Canada which has, as he puts it, "significant international ramifications":
In a decision that has significant international ramifications, Canada's Supreme Court today legalized assisted suicide. This heart-breaking decision will not only affect our Canadian readers, but will inevitably set an unofficial precedent for courts in the U.S. and elsewhere. Our readers in those countries need to be aware of this decision, in order to be better prepared to oppose this encroaching element of the Culture of Death. Read our breaking news report on the decision here, or below.
On a practical note for supporters in Britain, there is growing pressure on Parliament to make time for Lord Falconer's Assisted Dying bill, after the general election, so that it becomes a law. We must strenuously oppose any such move.It is essential that we elect people to Parliament who will vote to spare the elderly and the vulnerable from the threat of being killed by assisted suicide. Please contact me to find out how you can help SPUC's general election campaign.

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Tuesday, 3 February 2015

Cloning regulations: UK "are the pioneers of abuses of unborn children"

Paul Tully, SPUC general secretary
SPUC has issued the following statement today on the House of Commons debate today on cloning regulations:

SPUC is calling on MPs to reject the so-called "three-parent" embryo regulations designed to allow the cloning of embryos. The regulations would permit human germ-line manipulation for the first time.

The Society is appealing to MPs to oppose the regulations being debated in the House of Commons today which would allow cloned human embryos to be created and implanted in a woman.

Commenting on the background to today's debate, Paul Tully (pictured, above), General Secretary of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, said:
"The 1990 Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act was not intended to permit human cloning, and so the alteration of germ-line genetic material was forbidden.

"However, the proponents of the 1990 Act held out promises of cures and medical advances for children with inherited diseases if they were allowed to use some embryos as guinea-pigs. These benefits failed to materialise.
"In 2001 Parliament was asked to amend the embryology law to allow limited genetic manipulation and the wider use of embryos as guinea-pigs. On that occasion MPs were again misled with false claims about how regenerative medicine could not advance without cannibalising embryos for their embryonic stem cells (ESCs). As we in SPUC predicted at the time, this technique also failed, because embryo stem cells were carcinogenic. Ethical techniques using stem-cells from adults have proved successful.
"In 2008, wider amendments to the 1990 Act were put forward to pave the way for human cloning, and mitochondrial disease was for the first time the centre of concerns.

"The creation of cloning entails destroying some embryos in an attempt to create others. It discriminates against those with undesired genetic traits.

"It sets a precedent for wider cloning of human beings, not in a sinister dictatorship or science fiction world, but here in the UK. We are the pioneers of abuses of unborn children like legalised abortion, IVF and genetic screening, and we are in danger of losing all feeling for the victims of such medicalised exploitation.

"MPs have been consistently misled in the past about the prospects of success and the future intentions of those who want to use the tiniest humans - human embryos - for experiments. They should reject today's proposals," concluded Mr Tully.

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Scandalous omissions, ambiguities and confusion in Family Synod final report must be redressed

Matthew McCusker of
SPUC and Voice of the Family
Three members of SPUC's staff attended the Pontifical Council for the Family (PCF) conference on the Family Synod last month.

They were also representing Voice of the Family, an initiative of Catholic laity from 23 major pro-life/pro-family organisations worldwide, co-founded and funded by the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children. Last week Voice of the Family issued a statement criticising Cardinal Baldiserri, the organizer of the Synod on the Family, for further undermining Catholic teaching on the indissolubility of marriage.

Now in an new development, Voice of the Family has submitted proposals, (drafted by Matthew McCusker, pictured above) to the Pontifical Council for the Family's Family Synod consultation - proposals which strongly criticise the final report of the Extraordinary Synod for failing to refer to more than "one billion unborn human lives", at a conservative estimate, killed by abortion "since the proliferation of permissive abortion legislation around the world".

Voice of the Family's submission states:
Abortion is the gravest attack on the family because it attacks the relationship between a mother and father and their child. The profound love that should exist between parent and child is instead replaced by betrayal and death.

There was no reference to this deliberate killing in the final relatio of the Extraordinary Synod. Nor was there any mention of the destruction of human life caused by in vitro fertilisation or abortifacient forms of contraception.

It is perhaps even more scandalous that the only indirect mention of abortion was a reference to a “decline in population” partly due to “a mentality against having children promoted by the world politics of reproductive health” (No. 10) Here cardinals and bishops adopt the euphemism of the pro-abortion lobby and do nothing to explain what “reproductive health” really involves, namely, the killing of unborn children or the prevention of their conception.

The Ordinary Synod needs to face the reality of abortion – to call things by their proper name – and to call all Catholics and people of good will to combat the greatest violation of human rights in human history.

As well as destroying innocent life abortion wounds all other members of the family. Families marked by abortion are truly ‘wounded families.’ Pastoral care for these families, based on the truth about abortion, needs proposing with urgency
(my emphasis).
Voice of the Family is equally strong in its criticism of omissions and ambiguities in the Extraordinary Synod final report's treatment of marriage, contraception, euthanasia and assisted suicide, natural law, homosexuality, gender theory, sex education and parents as primary educators, and calls for clear, unambiguous teaching on these issues.

The Voice of the Family submission concludes:
Concern is growing across the Catholic world. Parents fear that their children will grow up in a world where they will have to endure suffering and persecution if they strive to live according to the natural moral law and the teaching of the Church. This problem must be dealt with by the Ordinary Synod.
Matthew McCusker, SPUC and Voice of the Family researcher and writer, comments; "The scandalous omissions, ambiguities and confusion which characterise the final report of the Extraordinary Synod must be fully redressed in the Ordinary Synod later this year. Concerned laypeople wishing to help through prayer and action should contact enquiry@voiceofthefamily.info"

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Monday, 2 February 2015

Snail embryos learn from experiences in the egg – just as unborn children learn in the womb

A remarkable piece of research provides evidence of the ability of a snail embryo to learn information that will be used in later life. The ability of snail embryos has parallels in human development, the research points out.

The researchers, from three UK universities, published their report before Christmas in the journal Freshwater Biology. It showed that snails exposed to the smell of predators during the embryonic development stage were better able to avoid those predators after the snails had hatched. They did this both by developing shells that were more protective and by crawling out of dangerous waters.

The question of whether or not to leave the water is an important one for a snail, as it may save it from a predator but carries the risk of desiccation, so getting it right may be literally a matter of life or death. Lead author of the report, Dr Sarah Dalesman of the University of Aberystwyth, expressed surprise at just how well the embryonic snails were able to learn, concluding that this ability might be extremely important in improving the survival chances of the young snails after hatching.

The report also found that embryonic snails that were exposed to a predator smell hatched out smaller, on average, than others that were kept in predator-free conditions. As the report itself notes, this mirrors the effects of stress in the development of mammals, including humans, where foetuses of stressed mothers typically have lower birth weights than others.

One of the key conclusions drawn by the authors is that “embryonic experience may therefore be extremely important in allowing populations to persist”. The opening words of the report, presenting a summary of the key findings, similarly comment that the biology in the very early life stages may – in terms of influencing the dynamics and survival of the population – be as important as, or even more important than, later stages.

So much for snails. What do we know about the ability of unborn humans to learn?

Plenty of studies have demonstrated that memories can be set down before birth, and that these can influence behaviour after birth. One such study (reported in The Independent and Daily Telegraph on 4 April 1995) was carried out by Dr Peter Hepper, then professor of psychology at Queen’s University in Belfast. Dr Hepper was no pro-life advocate, as he was suggesting that his studies could help mothers to make a choice as to whether or not to abort children with Down’s syndrome. His report, though, found that:

  • an unborn child can start to learn and remember during the second trimester of the mother’s pregnancy, so between 4 and 6 months;
  • from 24 weeks, unborn babies can recognise and remember sounds, and distinguish between those that are important to them and those that are not;
  • the unborn baby can recognise his or her mother’s voice from around 30 weeks.

A second report of Dr Hepper’s, this time reported in The Lancet on 11 June 1998, found that babies stopped crying and became more alert when played the theme tune from the Australian soap Neighbours if their mothers had watched the programme during pregnancy.

Two other researchers, from Keele University, found that unborn children could lay down musical memories from the 30th week of pregnancy, and possibly as early as the 20th week, before the cerebral cortex is fully functional .

In 2013, the University of Washington reported that unborn babies start to learn language and, within just hours of birth, can differentiate between sounds from languages to which they have been exposed in the womb and the sounds of other languages .

Moving from sound to smell, a French report, published in 2001, showed that the babies of mothers who ate anise during pregnancy were attracted to the odour after birth, whereas other young babies were either neutral or repelled by the smell .

If snails can learn life-saving skills at the embryonic state, it is hardly surprising that young humans can also start to learn matters of importance before birth. Any internet search will quickly demonstrate a wealth of evidence that the unborn baby can learn – whether speech, music, other sounds, or smell. These studies collectively demonstrate yet again the scientific fact that human development is a continuous process that starts at conception.

Comments on this blog? Email them to johnsmeaton@spuc.org.uk
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