
blogs


Doctors who won’t prescribe contraception to unmarried women or provide sex-change operations risk being struck off, says GMC
Doctors who refuse to prescribe contraceptives to unmarried women or refuse to provide sex-change operations…

The GMC needs to explain why it is forcing doctors to provide sex change operations
The Mail on Sunday has today quoted my blog in a story titled ‘Doctors “forced to carry out sex-change…

Huge increase in assisted suicide cases sounds strong warning to Britain
There has been a massive increase in cases of assisted suicide in both Oregon and Switzerland over…

Health Minister misleads public over foetal pain
The inimitable Cranmer has drawn attention to a letter from Health Minister Ann Milton which uncritically…

Jesus’ resurrection – the evidence reviewed
'Christianity stands or falls on the claim that Jesus Christ rose from the dead': So claimed Ludwig…

The real reason why so few doctors are willing to do late abortions
The Guardian newspaper, as a symptom of its rising anxiety about a change of public opinion about abortion,…

The role of the media in shaping the UK debate on ‘assisted dying’
Just over a year ago I was commissioned to write a review article about the role of the media in shaping…

It’s not just about the adults…children have feelings too
It has emerged over the weekend that an owner of a UK sperm bank may have biologically fathered up…

Abortion and mental health: the ‘debate’ continues for psychiatrists (or does it?)
Anyone interested in understanding more about the effects of abortion on the mental health of women,…

Egg donation mania – probing beneath the journalistic hype
There are two stories about egg donation in the papers this week.
First is the HFEA’s drive…

Pro-lifers come in every age, gender, political persuasion, colour and faith
It is a well-known tactic for the pro-abortion movement to stereotype those who are pro-life. Most…
Two giants are approaching; are we ready for them?
On November 23rd a radical bill to decriminalise abortion and impose it on Northern Ireland was stopped in its tracks thanks to opposition led by Christopher Chope MP. The status quo is preserved for now – but it’s no time for us to rest on our laurels. The Royal College of General Practitioners has just stated: “The College will now work with […]
Surrogacy: A selfless gift… or something more?
Surrogacy is often portrayed as a compassionate and beautiful act, a selfless gift, where a woman carries a child for a couple or an individual who are unable to have their own children. On the surface it appears to be a great act of kindness. However, beyond the superficial, there are troubling aspects of surrogacy […]
New Abortion Advice to Schools: Fact or Fiction?
The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) has produced a new factsheet on abortion to support Relationships and Sex Education in secondary schools. This ‘aims to ensure that professionals involved in educating young people on abortion do so ‘…with honest and medically accurate information…[which] distinguishes between fact and fiction.’ Since this new factsheet is […]
‘Abortion does not cause mental illness’. Discuss.
A new factsheet produced for schools by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) and the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare (FSRH) states as one of the ‘myth buster‘ headlines that ‘abortion does not cause mental illness’. Underneath the headline they explain: Successive studies and research reviews have demonstrated that the experience of […]
A stark warning to UK doctors from Canada
A recent legal ruling in Canada is a strong warning for British medical professionals who conscientiously object to involvement in abortion, or who would do so with assisted suicide if it were ever legalised. In 2018 the Ontario Superior Court ruled that healthcare professionals who refuse to carry out abortions (and euthanasia) must refer patients […]
After Three Decades The Department of Health Recognises Fetal Pain
The eighteenth century philosopher, Jeremy Bentham, wrote of animals: ‘The question is not Can they reason?, not Can they talk?, but Can they suffer?’ Professors Glover and Fisk, in their 2005 paper ‘Fetal Pain: Implications for research and practice’ say that this caused a change in attitude towards animals and their treatment that is continuing […]
The risks of neutrality on assisted suicide – lessons from abroad
Medicine has held a long-established opposition to assistance with suicide. Ira Byock, an American Palliative care physician, believes this is necessary so that: ‘the power of medicine is not used against vulnerable people’. One of the roles of medicine is the need to balance our duties to the individual with our duties to society. This is […]
Why the Royal College of Physicians will go ‘neutral’ on assisted suicide and why that matters
The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) is going to poll its 35,000 members to ask whether ‘they would help a terminally ill patient to die and whether the law should be changed to allow assisted dying.’ Why, despite the RCP polling all its members just a few years ago with the same question, has it […]
A good day to bury bad news? New CANH guidance released by BMA
When Jo Moore infamously sent a memo saying in effect that 11 September 2001 was a good day to bury bad news, she inadvertently lifted the veil on a time honoured practice of releasing news and reports in the midst of major national or world events in the hope that the news media fail to […]
Is British aid money being spent on funding illegal abortions?
Soon after authorities in Kenya banned Marie Stopes Kenya from carrying out abortions in Kenya, Niger also ordered the closure of some centres run by Marie Stopes International (MSI) on the grounds that MSI was illegally performing abortions there. Kenya and Niger are not the first countries to become victims of the abortion giant. In […]
Marie Stopes guilty of carrying out illegal abortions…again
This week, it hit the headlines that authorities in Kenya have forbidden Marie Stopes International(MSI) from carrying out abortions in Kenya. The Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board (KMPDB) issued this order after it was noted that Marie Stopes was advertising abortion services, despite a prohibition on all abortion advertising. Earlier this year, the Kenya […]
Diana Johnson’s Bill could return women to the perils of ‘back street’ abortion days
Today, 23 October 2018, Diana Johnson MP introduced a Ten Minute Rule Bill to decriminalise abortion in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland (NI). The bill was given leave to proceed to a Second Reading by 208 votes to 123. (179 Labour MPs voted for the bill and 108 Tory MPs voted against so the vote […]