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News, weekly update, 14 to 18 July
Women are to be offered supplies of the morning-after
pill in advance of need via a web-site. DrThom, a web-only service
registered with the health service regulator, said it would do
everything reasonable to ensure that the medication, costing £15.99,
did not fall into the hands of under-age girls, but admitted that young
girls would be able to get it easily. Elly Turner of Life criticised
the scheme. [The Daily Telegraph, 15 July]
The implementation of the Mental Capacity Act came a step
nearer when the Government published a consultation on rules for
the new Court of Protection and responses to the consultation on
Lasting Powers of Attorney. The new court, which will begin operating
next April, will be able to make decisions about the welfare
matters, including health care, of mentally incapacitated patients. The
consultation will run until 6 October. The consultation on Lasting
Powers of Attorney ended on 14 April and 118 responses were
received. [Government News Network, 17 July] The Mental Capacity Act 2005 gives statutory authority to euthanasia by omission.
A small study by the Trust for the Study of
Adolescence on behalf of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation claims that
many teenage parents in deprived areas plan to conceive their babies,
often to make up for their own negative family experiences. Beverley
Hughes, the children's minister, deplored the study, saying of the idea
that parenthood was positive for some teens, "we reject that view
completely". The study was based on interviews with 51 young mothers
and fathers aged 13-22 living in six deprived areas of England. Suzanne
Cater wrote the report. Meanwhile, research has found that many teenage
girls see having a baby as a better option than a low-paid "dead-end"
job. [BBC News Online, 17 July]
The head of the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority
has said that the law will eventually allow the creation of a human
being without a man. But Suzi Leather, a Christian, said any technique
should be considered at a moral level. "We need to look at whether it
is necessary to use these techniques and also how their use might
impact on any potential child," she said. Whilst fully endorsing embryo
research and IVF, she said that most of the general public did not
agree with sex selection. [The Independent, 17 July]
A Washington Post journalist has said the number of American medics filing lawsuits and complaints over religious discrimination is likely to intensify as more embryonic stem cells are used to treat disease and more states legalise physician-assisted suicide. [Washington Post, 16 July]
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, 2012
