News, weekly update, 1 May

The lower house of the UK parliament is expected soon to debate the government's Human Fertilisation and Embryology (HFE) Bill, possibly the week after next. [LifeNews, 29 April] MPs will be lobbied on the bill at the House of Commons on 14 May and a guide to lobbying is available from SPUC by emailing lizfoody@spuc.org.uk. A page on SPUC's website, accessible from the homepage, describes the bill and includes links to a briefing. SPUC is calling on its supporters to ask MPs to oppose the bill, which it calls the most serious legislative threat to early human life since the 1990 embryology law. [SPUC, 30 April] Lord Steel of Aikwood, whose 1967 private bill led to wide-scale abortion in Britain, defends the legislation and argues against a reduction in abortion time limits. He asserts that his Christianity is compatible with his pro-abortion approach. His article mentions how, unlike Britain, some other European countries do not require doctors' consent for abortion. [Independent, 30 April]

Girls aged 12 have had abortions in Britain. For three years the Sunday Times newspaper had to press the government to release the information. Our source suggests between 10 and 15 such abortions annually in recent years. BPAS, which provides abortions, said the numbers were small and called for sex education. [Sunday Times, 27 April] John Smeaton of SPUC commented: "BPAS totally misses the point. This story is yet further evidence of the failure of the Government's policy of sex education and of provision to young people under the age of 16, without parental knowledge or consent, of abortion and abortifacient birth control services. In 1999 the British government launched its Teenage Pregnancy Strategy. It aimed to cut teenage pregnancies to 50 percent of the 1998 figure by 2010. The strategy relied on making birth control and abortion more easily available to underage children than ever before. It has received £150 million (c. €190 million) in public funds but shows no sign of success, having failed to meet its interim target of cutting under-18 pregnancies by 15 percent by 2004. Official statistics show a fall of only one percent in the under-18 pregnancy rate and six percent among under-16s while actual numbers rose."

President Bush says a culture of life is in American national interest. He told EWTN: "... the politics of abortion isn't going to change until people's hearts change, and fully understand the meaning of life and what it means for a society to value life in all forms - whether it be the life of the unborn, or the life of the elderly; whether it be the life of the less fortunate among us, or the life of the rich guy. I mean, it's a moral touchstone, I think, that will speak to a healthy society in the long run." [11 April] National Right to Life is reminding voters that Senator Barack Obama said last year that his first act as US president would be to pass a law which would legalise abortion, override states' bans on the procedure, and repeal laws against partial-birth abortion and state funding for terminations. [LifeNews, 14 April]

The Irish Council for Bioethics has been criticised for approving research on human IVF embryos. Fr Kevin Doran wrote that it had been wrong to talk in terms of giving rights to embryos, since such rights derived from their nature and were human rights which could not be granted. He also said the council was being utilitarian by suggesting that, while it was reluctant to permit the destruction of embryos, it might allow the practice if it was useful. [Sunday Business Post, 27 April]

India's prime minister has called gender-based abortion a national shame. Mr Manmohan Singh, who has three daughters, has vowed to stop the practice which reportedly kills half a million girls a year. Female births are 80% those of boys. [Daily Mail, 28 April] Mr Singh's objection seems to be based on concerns about discrimination and demography, rather than on opposition to abortion per se.

To subscribe to SPUC's email information services, please visit www.spuc.org.uk/em-signup. The reliability of the news herein is dependent on that of the cited sources, which are paraphrased rather than quoted. Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the society. © Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, 2010


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