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The government’s new ‘prevent duty guidance’ – imposing political correctness on university groups
The Government’s Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill, currently being considered by the House of…

Freedom of conscience in the new Nursing and Midwifery Council Code of Conduct
A new year seems a good time to launch a new set of guidelines, and the NMC have chosen this January…

Disaster response: Malawi faces floods
Many people here daily live life on the edge, so it doesn’t take much to push it over into…

Why abortion is not the best solution for pregnancy following rape or incest
This incredibly difficult and sensitive issue has come into public discussion again as the Northern…

Why have we become so scared of disability?
When I went to see the midwife at 36 weeks of pregnancy, I did not expect to find myself leaving in…

Buffer zones – a form of subverting freedom of speech and real choice
It would appear that once again, liberties are under threat of being curtailed by the proponents of…

Ebola: Christmas is cancelled
As many of us stop work and get ready to enjoy Christmas, let’s spare a thought for the people of…

Conscientious Objection and the worrying implications of the Glasgow midwives case
The right for health professionals to exercise their conscientious objection to participating…

Ebola: dispatches from the frontline
CMF member Sam Dunnet is working as Staff Health Manager for Save the Children in Sierra Leone. Here…

Court rules that unborn babies are ‘organisms’: a look behind the headlines
Seven years ago, a baby girl (who cannot be named for legal reasons) was born to a 19 year old mother…

Censuring debate and free speech at Oxford University
Not for the first time, a college at a top UK university has completely shut down an attempt to organise…
Where have all the nurses gone? NMC survey reveals an accelerating attrition of nurses and midwives
It seems sadly ironic that a week after Lord Crisp announced plans for a worldwide campaign to promote the value of nursing in global health and development, the UK’s Nursing and Midwifery Council announced that in the last year 1,783 more nurses and midwives have left the professions than joined for the first time in over a […]
Over 1,000 doctors reject BMA abortion decriminalisation motion – this is why
Over 1,000 doctors and medical students have signed an open letter urging the British Medical Association (BMA) to reject a motion calling for the complete decriminalisation of abortion. Also, just under 21,000 members of the public have signed a similar petition on Citizen Go. Motion 50, which I have already reviewed in some detail, will […]
Good news for freedom of conscience in the UK
For some time we have been concerned at CMF about a possible weakening of conscience protection for pharmacists in the UK. In December 2016 the pharmacy regulator, the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), issued new draft standards and guidance that changed a previous ‘right to refer’ with a ‘duty to dispense’. The GPhC admitted at the […]
Three myths about Christianity and sexuality
A gay war hero from World War II is chemically castrated, leading to his suicide (The Imitation Game). A convent schoolgirl falls pregnant, so the nuns have her child adopted, which breaks her heart (Philomena). Gay activists against social injustice are victimised by straight society, but show generosity to others (Milk, Pride). Journalists reveal a […]
Doctors debate the complete decriminalisation of abortion at BMA ARM
Doctors could back the complete decriminalisation of abortion in Britain next week. On Tuesday 27 June the British Medical Association annual representative meeting in Bournemouth will vote on a motion seeking to end all legal restrictions on abortion. Currently, abortion remains illegal in Britain under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861. Under this law both mothers attempting to […]
Reforming the WHO: Can the new General Secretary really be an agent for positive change?
Overshadowed by the coverage of the horrific terrorist attack in Manchester last month, the British media largely missed the election of the new General Secretary of the World Health Organisation on 23 May: Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (or Dr Tedros, as he now styles himself). A former Minister of Health in Ethiopia, he will become the first […]
Biotechnology companies positioning themselves to make millions from eugenic abortions
The Nuffield Council on Bioethics is warning that a new screening test for pregnant women, Non-Invasive Prenatal Screening (NIPT), which is due to be rolled out next year on the NHS, could lead to babies being aborted because they are the wrong gender or have other ‘undesirable’ characteristics. Professor Tom Shakespeare, chair of the Nuffield […]
Getting conscience right and wrong
Can a doctor refuse to participate in something he finds unconscionable? Is this an important liberty to be safeguarded, or an unwarranted privilege which interferes with patient care? Must we leave our conscience at the door of our professional life? These some of the questions currently being discussed in the medical ethics literature. It should […]
If we trust women, we should listen to them
Contrary to impressions given in the media, by professional bodies such as the Royal college of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) and by most Parliamentarians, an overwhelming majority of Britons actually want to make it harder for women to get abortions, a new poll reveals. It is particularly striking how much support there is amongst women […]
Brilliant Resources to help Christians engage with the General Election on 8 June
On 8 June the UK goes to the polls for the general election. Whoever assumes power will have a profound influence in shaping public policy in matters which affect us, our families, churches, patients and colleagues. Some claim that politics and religion should not mix – ‘We don’t do God’, famously said spin doctor Alistair […]
Exposing the dark side of egg ‘donation’: the headlines this week should be just the start
At last! The media has finally picked up on the ethical and exploitative mess that is egg ‘donation’. I have blogged on this, included it in submissions, asked questions in conferences and, most recently, raised it when giving oral evidence to a Parliamentary Select Committee in April. The aim being to expose the industry around […]
New study threatens midwives’ freedom of conscience on abortion
In the latest bid to circumvent the increasing number of younger doctors being unwilling to perform abortions, a new report has challenged the need for some surgical abortions to be undertaken by doctors at all. Sally Sheldon, a Law Professor at the University of Kent, has published a study into the 1967 Abortion Act […]