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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…

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)…

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…

The Prime Minister’s transgender proposals dangerously oversimplify a complex mental health issue
The Government's public consultation on possible means to make it simpler and easier for people in England…

The ‘unmet need’ for contraception and abortion in the developing world
This summer, Theresa May committed to spend £200 million on ‘family planning’ in Africa and Asia.
More…

Christian doctors unite worldwide to challenge WMA on conscience rights
The International Christian Medical and Dental Association (ICMDA) has called on the World Medical Association…

Journey into darkness – Transplants, markets and trafficking
When in 2016, an editor from a leading academic publisher approached me about contributing a book chapter…

Sex education and the myth of neutrality
The Department for Education is drafting guidance for schools who are now required to teach Relationships…

Abortion pills: simple and safe or dangerous and damaging?
Many abortion activists will have been delighted at the news that women will be able to self- administer…

New draft guidance from the BMA will enable doctors to dehydrate and sedate to death large numbers of non-dying patients with dementia, stroke or brain damage
This story was broken on 14 August 2018 by the Daily Mail.
Is it justifiable to withdraw food and fluids…

Severely brain-damaged patients are commonly misdiagnosed, often aware and may well recover, says authoritative new report
People with severe brain damage are difficult to diagnose reliably, not uncommonly recover and are often…
Cut and Paste: A new revolution in genetics
Great excitement has been developing over the past few months about new opportunities to eliminate diseases using cheaper, more efficient and more precise gene-editing techniques. But these same techniques are also bringing fresh urgency to the safety and ethics of genetic engineering and ‘designer babies’. Ever since the discovery of the DNA double helix, different […]
Britain’s law on assisted suicide is not ‘broken’ and does not need ‘fixing’
On Friday 11 September MPs will vote on the Assisted Dying (No 2) Bill tabled by Labour’s Rob Marris. In case you were wondering, it’s called ‘No 2’ because an almost identical Assisted Dying Bill has been tabled in the House of Lords by Labour Peer Lord Falconer. Marris wants to change the law to […]
The assisted suicide of Gill Pharaoh reminds us that there are actually limits to choice
You can listen to my interview on this case on BBC West Midlands here. Last week I was contacted by the Sunday Times who were planning to run a high profile story about a 75 year old retired nurse being helped to kill herself in Switzerland. The story of Gill Pharaoh’s death was later published last […]
The wisdom of Solomon is needed in today’s surrogacy cases
Disturbing stories on surrogacy are hitting the headlines on a regular basis at the moment. Last week we heard about a surrogate mother who changed her mind about handing over the child she carried, to the gay couple who had paid £9,000 ‘expenses’ for her to do so. The baby boy is not genetically […]
Off Target? Do we have faith in the Sustainable Development Goals?
I remember sitting in a small room at Trinity Western University, British Columbia on a hot day in July 2003, hearing about an exciting, new, joint initiative of the World Evangelical Alliance and the Micah Network for Integral Mission. Called ‘The Micah Challenge’, its aim was to wake the worldwide church up to the opportunity to […]
Disabled people assemble mass lobby to urge MPs to reject assisted suicide bill
Disabled people descended on Westminster today in droves to lobby MPs on Rob Marris’s Assisted Dying (no 2) Bill. Marris wants to give adults who are terminally ill and mentally competent the ‘right’ to have assistance to kill themselves using lethal drugs on the say-so of two doctors and one high court judge. The bill […]
Excluding the spiritual from patient care: what is the NMC up to?
In some ways, it speaks of the nature of our times that we have created a special category of care and labelled it ‘spiritual’. In truth, all nursing and medical care has recognised that spiritual needs exist and need to be paid attention to as part of the proper care of any patient. These spiritual needs are variously defined, […]
Experts in care of the elderly speak out strongly against assisted suicide
The leading organisation representing health professionals caring for the elderly in Britain has this last week spoken out strongly against the legalisation of assisted suicide. The British Geriatrics Society is the professional body of specialists in the health care of older people in the United Kingdom. It has over 2,750 members worldwide and draws together experts from all […]
Christians must speak out about the Marris Bill on assisted suicide
Labour MP Rob Marris wants to legalise assisted suicide in England and Wales. His Assisted Dying (No 2) Bill would allowmentally competent adults (>18) judged to have less than six months to live to receive help to kill themselves once given approval by two doctors and a High Court judge. Marris’s Bill is essentially […]
Putting faith in global healthcare
I have long argued on this blog that there needs to be a greater engagement with faith based organisations and faith communities in health care planning and delivery in the UK and around the world. It is always encouraging when the wider medical community says the same thing back to you! Yesterday, the Lancet […]
The BMA: A trade union with integrity?
Can the British Medical Association (BMA) be trusted to ‘maintain the honour and interests of the medical profession?’ Or is the BMA another big organisation without full accountability, making recommendations ostensibly on behalf of its members whilst failing to operate democratically? The BMA published its parliamentary brief on 24 February regarding mitochondrial replacement techniques, otherwise […]
Abortion and preterm births: what women need to know but are not told
Prematurity – a birth prior to 37 weeks gestational age – has recently been described as: ‘the biggest challenge in western obstetrics, with severe neonatal morbidity (and a need for intensive care treatment for infant respiratory distress syndrome, feeding problems, neonatal jaundice and cerebral palsy) and infant mortality.’ In the UK 7.8% of babies […]