Click here for SPUC's latest lobbying alert on the HFE Bill Urge MPs to vote against pro-abortion amendments.
Click here for how you can contact your MP to urge him/her to vote against the HFE bill and against pro-abortion amendments to the bill.
We have produced a striking new
leaflet for mass
distribution - click
here. Previous leaflets have been very effective in
alerting people to the bill - but we need to do more. Please do all you can to help
circulate this leaflet now. It can be
distributed door-to-door, outside churches and on the street. The leaflet urges people to write to or
telephone their MP, and offers copies of our latest
briefing for those who want to know more - click
here. Leaflets and briefings can be ordered by emailing Liz Foody at SPUC lizfoody@spuc.org.uk or by telephone 020 7091 7091 or by fax 020 7820 3131 or by post to
SPUC, 3 Whitacre Mews, Stannary Street, London SE11 4AB.
Like all members of the human family, the human embryo deserves respect. Support for the HFE bill, which further undermines the status of the embryo, breaches international conventions upholding the right to life of all members of the human family.
The HFE bill, like the existing law, disregards the status of the embryo. It will permit new abuses of embryos and extend those already allowed. The HFE bill will extend the general scope of in vitro fertilisation (IVF), regarding it not only as a treatment for infertile couples, but for others who demand their purported "right" to have a child.
Instead of IVF as a last resort, it has now becomes a norm. Embryos become just things. The HFE bill focuses on reproductive technology in which human reproduction is put at the service of those who demand it. At the same time the stress on the welfare of children born from IVF is weakened, with the removal of the reference to the child's need for a father.
Embryos may be used in experiments even if alternative ways of doing the research are possible. Embryo stem cell research remains far behind adult stem cell research in terms of results. No treatments are available using embryonic cells; seventy or more have been developed using adult stem cells, see, for example, www.stemcellresearch.org/facts/CheckTheScore.pdf
The Bill promotes the "saviour sibling" procedure. This is where a couple who have a disabled child undergo IVF in the hope of producing a baby who can be used as a tissue donor to treat the older sibling. However, most "saviour sibling" embryos are discarded or destroyed.
The embryology authority will be clearly empowered to licence the creation of cloned embryos for research. The bill also alters the way the law is framed to make it easier for parliament to permit cloned embryos to be transferred to the womb in future. Also, people who were never asked about such procedures could have embryos created using their DNA
Mixing human and animal gametes to create hybrid embryos is unethical. How can it be right to generate such embryos when there is no clear answer to the question "how should we treat them"?
Within the same bill, some parliamentarians also want to widen the law on abortion. This would mean more abortions and there are already between 500 and 600 abortions every day.
Summary briefing for MPs, HFE bill 2nd reading, Monday 12th May 2008
"What you need to know about the government's embryo bill" by Anthony Ozimic, SPUC political secretary (greyscale PDF copy of colour PowerPoint presentation)SPUC finds Commons vote for embryo bill disturbing 12 May 2008
SPUC petition against embryology bill 12 May 2008
Let's focus on opposing HFE bill - it's time to drop the upper limit issue 1 May 2008
SPUC to praise bishops' stand against embryo bill 25 April 2008
Alarming new artificial reproduction technique 21 April 2008
Cardinal O'Brien goes on YouTube 10 April 2008
Do charities know what's being said on their behalf? 8 April 2008
Anti-life strategy emerging against HFE bill opposition 7 April 2008
Hybrid embryo creation "disastrous" says SPUC 1 April 2008
Let's not support charities who refuse charity to the unborn 24 March 2008
"Stop exploiting embryonic human beings": Bishop of Lancaster plea to Gordon Brown 23 March 2008
Courageous Scottish Cardinal speaks out 22 March 2008
The danger of abortion amendments 17 March 2008
The moral maze created by IVF 12 March 2008
Worldwide prayer alert to protect Northern Ireland 10 March 2008
MP's muddled thinking on abortion 7 March 2008
Cameron has jumped the gun with abortion-limit call 26 Feb 2008
The intrinsic wrongnesss of IVF 11 Feb 2008
Pro-life campaigners call for nationwide lobby of MPs against embryo bill 4 Feb 2008
Lords fail to oppose unethical embryo bill 4 Feb 2008
scientists want to make embryos from dying children's tissue 1 Feb 2008
Premature baby study welcome but isn't guide to abortion law reform 1 Feb 2008
Lords must reject embryology bill 28 Jan 2008
Do we live in a civilised country? Draw your own conclusions. 28 Jan 2008
Embryo bill progresses whilst ethical restraints rejected 28 Jan 2008
Keeping things in perspective on the HFE bill 28 Jan 2008
Bishop of Paisley describes HFE bill as "a state sponsored attack on human life" 26 Jan 2008
last chance for Lords to stop Human Fertilisation and Embryology bill 25 Jan 2008
Lords must reject bill before the government makes it even worse 22 Jan 2008
Cloning lobby criticised for "clone without donor's knowledge" demand 21 Jan 2008
Cardinal argues for national bioethics commission 21 Jan 2008
Embryo scientist challenged successfully in life radio debate 18 Jan 2008
HFEA approval of hybrids "disastrous" 17 Jan 2008
Ethics and lives would be casualties of cloning 17 Jan 2008
Government commands Labour Peers to vote for human-animal hybrid embryos 16 Jan 2008
Lords debating bill which would extend killing of young humans 15 Jan 2008
embryo bill, Report stage, House of Lords 15 Jan 2008
Campaign against embryo bill continues, says SPUC 21 Nov 2007
Pro-life lobbyists comment on tonight's embryo bill debate 19 Nov 2007
Embryo bill unethical, unnecessary and dangerous, says SPUC 19 Nov 2007
Embryo bill introduction "ethically deplorable" 6 Nov 2007
Pro-abortion lobby holds sway in Parliament, warns SPUC 31 Oct 2007
Relief that government not interested in abortion amendments 24 Oct 2007