
blogs


Marie Stopes International: carrying out unsafe abortions in the UK and across the globe, using taxpayer millions
For the past five years, the charity Marie Stopes International (MSI) has been given £163 million in…

Seeing the Person behind the disability
Late in June, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) abolished the role of Disability Commissioner.…

Why the rush to change blood donation deferral policies for commercial sex workers & men who have sex with men?
Commercial sex workers and men who have sex with men (MSM) in Britain and Scotland are to be allowed…

College climbs down over ban on Christian doctors and nurses training in sexual and reproductive health
Doctors and nurses wishing to practise in sexual and reproductive health have been granted more liberty…

DNA editing – a significant advance but many questions remained unanswered
You can see my Sky News interview on this story here.
Scientists have, for the first time shown that…

Ideology or Evidence (part two)? The battle over abortion statistics
Having blogged about the triumph of ideology over evidence in relation to the campaign in England, Scotland…

Ideology or evidence? The battle over presumed consent to organ donation
The debate about changing the law on organ donation is one of a number of controversial issues…

Charlie Gard: Emotion has trumped trust in today’s society, but parents and professionals can work together
The tragic case of Charlie Gard, and the desperate efforts of his parents Connie Yates and Chris…

Why Boots chemist should not have capitulated to pressure from BPAS over emergency contraception
Over the weekend I waded into the debate on whether Boots should reduce the price of the so-called ‘morning-after…

Family planning – ‘summit of a mess’
Last week’s London Family Planning Summit was, on the surface, a ‘successful’ follow up to the…

The Conway Case – a change in the law to allow assisted suicide is dangerous and unnecessary
A 67-year-old Shropshire man with motor neurone disease (MND) is seeking to overturn the law banning…
The ‘Groningen protocol’ for euthanasia of disabled babies in the Netherlands
In an interview this morning on BBC Five Live (at 0705) on the Paul Lamb case (listen here) I was asked by the presenter Nicky Campbell about evidence for a slippery slope following the legalisation of euthanasia in other jurisdictions. In my answer I mentioned the steady escalation in numbers of cases in Belgium and the […]
Don’t be fooled by Lord Falconer’s ‘modest’ assisted suicide proposals
Lord Falconer has finally announced that his long awaited assisted suicide bill will be tabled in the House of Lords next week on Wednesday 15 May. It is then that we will finally see the full text of the bill which will then proceed to second reading (debate stage) sometime in June, or possibly in […]
Doctors should not be forced to provide emergency contraception
The Independent has run the story of a ‘Christian-run NHS GP surgery’ which has apparently ‘attracted criticism for posting a notice warning that some of its doctors refuse to prescribe the morning-after pill to patients on grounds of conscience’. The message on the door of The Links Medical Practice in Mottingham, south London advises patients that if ‘a consenting […]
Several leading bioethicists defend the practice of infanticide this week in leading medical journal
In February 2012 two bioethicists provoked international outrage with an article advocating infanticide. Writing in the Journal of Medical Ethics (JME), Alberto Giubilini and Francesca Minerva argued in ‘After-birth abortion: why should the baby live?’, that foetuses and newborns ‘do not have the same moral status as actual persons’. They concluded that ‘after birth abortion (killing a newborn) […]
Marie Fleming loses Supreme Court appeal challenging ban on assisted suicide
A 59-year-old Irish woman today lost her Supreme Court challenge to the ban on assisted suicide. Marie Fleming (pictured) is a 59 year old former Irish lecturer who has multiple sclerosis and wanted her partner to be able to help her kill herself without risk of prosecution (See Irish Times and BBC Europe reports). She had argued the ban on assisted […]
What the UK needs to learn from the worldwide Church
Last week there was a meeting between David Cameron and leaders of major UK NGOs on the process to find the new set of development goals post 2015. Many issues were on the agenda, and it is a meeting which will have influence on the process, because Cameron is one of the triumvirate of national leaders that have […]
GMC and RCM must now move urgently to review their abortion guidance in light of Glasgow midwives court ruling
Two Roman Catholic midwives have today won a landmark legal battle to avoid taking any part in abortion procedures. Mary Doogan, 58, and Concepta Wood, 52, (pictured) lost a previous case against NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (GGC) when the court ruled that their human rights had not been violated as they were not directly […]
Losing trust – why immunisation programmes fail
What do South Wales, North Nigeria and Northwest Pakistan have in common? They all have outbreaks of serious viral infections which could easily have been prevented by vaccines which are known to be effective. So why are children not being immunised? There are many reasons why the outbreak of measles in Wales and the new cases of poliomyelitis […]
Savita Halappanavar – Medical misadventure verdict does not justify changing Ireland’s abortion law
The jury in the Savita Halappanavar inquest has returned a unanimous verdict of death by medical misadventure. Savita Halappanavar (pictured), 31, was an Indian woman who tragically died in Ireland from overwhelming infection after allegedly being denied an abortion. Her case has been seized upon by the pro-choice lobby as grounds for liberalising Ireland’s abortion law. Savita was 17 […]
Does abortion reduce mental health risks for women? The very latest research
Assessing the effect of abortion on women’s mental health is complex, controversial and findings are frequently conflicting. Yet it is essential to do so, as nearly 200,000 abortions are carried out in Britain each year, thus even minor effects on a few women will affect large numbers in total. Weighing into these controversies this month […]
Paul Lamb’s tragic personal circumstances must not blind us to the deadly consequences of his attempt to undermine the murder law
A 57 year-old man, who was almost entirely paralysed in a road accident 23 years ago, is now seeking permission for a doctor to give him a lethal injection to end his life. Paul Lamb, who up until the lifting on an anonymity order this week has been known only as ‘L’ (see previous reports here, here and here), […]
Doctor who killed seven new-born babies by cutting their spinal cords with scissors may face death penalty
The Daily Telegraph (see here and here) has this week run the story of a US abortionist who is facing a potential death sentence after being charged with the gruesome murders of seven babies and a mother. Dr Kermit Gosnell (pictured), who is on trial in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, allegedly ran a filthy and dangerous ‘abortion mill’ from his […]