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News, 12 March 2008
A Catholic prelate was today challenged by a member of a parliamentary committee over his advice to Catholic schools not to support fund-raising appeals with an anti-life ethos. Ms Fiona McTaggart MP raised the matter with Rt Rev Patrick O'Donoghue, Bishop of Lancaster, England, in the House of Commons children, schools and families committee. The bishop said it was not feasible to expect Catholics to support organisations if their leadership adopted policies contrary to basic Christian principles, even if those charities also did good work. The bishop emphasised that the values upheld by Catholic schools in his diocese were values shared by those of other faiths, such as Moslems, attending Catholic schools. The bishop recently issued guidance in a document called Fit for Mission? - Schools. [SPUC director's blog, 12 March] Mr Barry Sheerman MP, committee chairman, was previously quoted as saying: "Faith education works all right as long as people are not that serious about their faith." [Daily Mail, 11 March]A pro-abortion government has been returned in Spain following last Sunday's general election. The socialist workers will govern in coalition. The main opposition party had taken only a marginally better stand on pro-life issues. [LifeSite, 11 March]
The
Lawyers' Christian Fellowship in Britain has criticised Marie Stopes
International's new abortion telephone counselling service. Ms Andrea
Minichello Williams said hotlines were "not adequate forms of counselling
for women caught in one of the most momentous crises of their lives. Speaking
to someone on the phone can never be adequate and compared to a face-to-face
meeting. When a woman faces an unplanned pregnancy she needs time to consider
all the options." [Christian
Today, 11 March]
A hoarding poster criticising the unrestricted
legal status of abortion in Canada has been described as misleading and false. Ms Carolyn
McLeod, professor of philosophy and women's studies at the University of Western Ontario, said: "Healthy Canadian women are not having
abortions seven, eight or nine months into a pregnancy." Mr Phil Arnsby of
the London Area Right to Life Association, which paid for the billboard,
pointed out that Canada had no law against abortion. [London
Free Press, 11 March]
A man with cerebral palsy was left unfed in hospital for three days, according to the report of a British parliamentary committee which also found other instances of neglect of vulnerable people. Mr Andrew Dismore MP, committee chairman, said: "It is extremely depressing to see, 10 years after the introduction of the Human Rights Act, the way people with learning disabilities are treated when using our services." [BBC, 6 March]
Stem cells from a girl's umbilical cord blood have reportedly been used to treat her brother's inherited blood disorder. Dikshit Gowda, aged four years, of Bangalore, India, is said to be recovering from thalassaemia, after he was treated in Kolkata, West Bengal. Our source says that, after his bone marrow was destroyed by chemotherapy, his white blood cell count dropped to zero, but it was recovering after the injection of mis-matched blood from his baby sister. [Sahara Samay, 6 March]
A doctor has expressed regret at failing to notice a 35-week pregnancy in a woman who subsequently died, with her baby, of a infection. Ms Tina Wildgoose of Bristol, England, had reportedly not mentioned her condition to Dr Katherine Wright. The inquest may not have concluded. [Daily Mail, 6 March]
A survey of pregnant women using London's underground railway suggests that 30 percent of them are not offered a seat during busy times. The transport authority is to put signs on trains suggesting that passengers do so. [BBC, 6 March]
Twins were born on their mother's 16th birthday. Ms Hayley Parks and her partner and family, of Lancashire, England, expressed delight. [Clitheroe Advertiser, 6 March]
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
