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New Study of Medical Students Reveals a Strong Support for Freedom of Conscience
A study in the Journal of Medical Ethics published yesterday showed that nearly 50% of medical students…

General Medical Council and Medical Defence Union endorse ‘tactful’ offers of prayer by GPs
The GP magazine Pulse reports in an exclusive this week on new guidance from the Medical Defence Union…

A life precious to God – how to cope when you find your unborn baby has special needs
There is a deeply heart-warming story in the Daily Mail today (July 18 2011) titled, ‘Doctors told…

Greater than Google – final reflections on the Developing Health Course
I'm back in the office after the Developing Health Course, analysing feedback forms, tying up loose ends…

Martin Pistorius: a story about faith, hope and love through ‘locked in syndrome’
The Sunday Times today tells the story of Martin Pistorius, a South African man who ended up paralysed…

Britain promotes media advertising for abortion whilst Russia attempts to curb it
The Daily Telegraph carried the story earlier this month that private clinics which carry out abortions…

Italy joins Bulgaria and France in blocking euthanasia legislation
Earlier this year I reported that France, Australia, Scotland, Israel and Canada had recently blocked…

Abortion and mental health: is there a link?
This is a question that has been the subject of many a debate in academia, in politics, in the public…

Is Treatment Becoming the New Prevention Fad for HIV & AIDS?
Two new studies (one in Kenya and Uganda, the other in Botswana) were published this week suggesting…

Emmerdale injects some reality into its depiction of the sequelae of assisted suicide
I am not an Emmerdale fan but I was interested to see the way the Soap is developing the story following…

Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis is too high a price for a perfect baby
Last week the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) held its annual meeting…
This baby is still you, just the ‘best of you’ – the quest for better babies
In one of the early scenes of the sci-fi film Gattaca, a couple decide they want to ensure their second child has the ‘best’ start in life. So they visit an IVF clinic to select the genetic profile of their baby. When the couple express some disquiet about the selection process the doctor encourages them, […]
The number of women having several repeat abortions is shockingly high, and increasing
One young woman, who had a first abortion at the age of age 18 and then another three by age 22, was interviewed on Radio 4 on Monday morning about how she felt having several abortions: ‘The first one, you don’t know what’s going to happen…you’re scared. Like, you’re anxious…but then once you’ve done that…it […]
Is the RCOG breaking the law by preventing pro-life doctors from receiving its degrees?
Last week I highlighted the fact that a faculty of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) is barring doctors with pro-life views from receiving its degrees and diplomas. The story has been picked up by the Telegraph today. Doctors and nurses who have a moral objection to prescribing those ‘contraceptives’ which can act […]
RCOG faculty bars prolife doctors from receiving its degrees and diplomas
Doctors and nurses who have a moral objection to prescribing ‘contraceptives’ which act by killing human embryos are to be barred from receiving diplomas in sexual and reproductive health even if they undertake the necessary training according to new guidelines. Under new rules issued by the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Health (FSRH) earlier this […]
Social care crisis deepens
Today’s report from the IPPR think tank paints a worrying picture for British society. In the next three years, the report estimates, the number of elderly people needing to be cared for at home will exceed the number of adult children or other relatives able to care for them. There are about 1.2 million people […]
UK Ministers try to silence two million critics of destructive embryo research
The UK Government, along with a number of organisations and research institutions involved in funding or carrying out destructive embryo research in the UK, have not just been taken by surprise but flat footed by the outcome of a new EU citizens’ initiative. The UK likes to see itself at the forefront of world biomedical […]
At least 67 doctors have clearly broken the abortion law but not one has been prosecuted
The General Medical Council has admitted in a Freedom of Information release that 67 doctors are known to have illegally pre-signed abortion forms and yet not one has been referred to a public hearing by a Fitness to Practise Panel, not one has been referred to the police and not one has been struck off […]
When secularists start running leper colonies we should take their attack on Cameron seriously
An assortment of ‘liberal’ journalists, scientists and celebrities have today accused David Cameron of risking causing ‘alienation’ in society by saying Britain is a ‘Christian country’. The 50 signatories to a letter to the Daily Telegraph say that Britain is largely a ‘non-religious society’ and warn about the ‘negative consequences for politics and society’ that […]
When ideology drives science
Intellectual dishonesty in the ‘abortion/breast cancer’ and ‘change therapy’ debates In July 1949, the New England Journal of Medicine printed an article by Dr Leo Alexander titled ‘Medical Science under Dictatorship’. In it, he explains what happens to science when it ‘becomes subordinated to the guiding philosophy’ of a political ideology. ‘Irrespective of other ideologic […]
David Cameron is right about loving one’s neighbour but has he missed the whole point of Easter?
Tony Blair’s spin doctor Alistair Campbell famously said that the Labour government didn’t ‘do God’ but the Prime Minister’s Easter address to church leaders has him trending on twitter as #CameronJesus. Today he has called for Christians to be ‘unashamedly evangelical’. David Cameron’s pronouncements have sparked controversy and criticism from both sides of the political […]
New Down’s syndrome research: saving lives vs saving money
A wonderful video has recently been released to honour those with, or caring for, people with Down’s syndrome. It is only a few minutes long but has a powerful message. 15 young people with Down’s syndrome speak to a mother who is expecting a baby with Down’s syndrome. They say that it will difficult for […]
Fertility rites and wrongs: New complications with new ‘families’
A case concerning twin girls has come before the Court of Appeal that almost defies imagination in its complexity of relationships. If it weren’t a disturbing harbinger of things to come, it could almost be dismissed as a comedy of errors. The story starts in the 1990s with two lesbians beginning an ‘intimate relationship’. […]