Society for the Protection of Unborn Children
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News, 31 July 2009

Euthanasia and assisted suicide; disability

• Debbie Purdy wins House of Lords case on assisted suicide. SPUC had intervener status before the judges. Anthony Ozimic of SPUC, who was present at the judgment, told the media: "It sends out a terrible message to disabled and the seriously ill that they are less valued than others. It is also sends out the message that in certain circumstances it is right for people with disabilities to be assisted to kill themselves. This is fundamentally unethical and will put vulnerable people under terrible pressure to agree to suicide if they are made to feel they are a burden on their loved ones or society." [Daily Mail, 30 July] http://is.gd/1VGD8 Also SPUC press release http://is.gd/1VGPM and blog-post by John Smeaton, SPUC director http://is.gd/1VIbB
• A bill to legalise assisted suicide in Scotland is expected to be brought before the Scottish parliament this autumn after the independent MSP Margo MacDonald won cross-party backing [Guardian, 30 July] http://is.gd/1VGYB
• A son who gave his terminally ill father a gun which the elder man used to kill himself while in hospital, has pleaded guilty to firearms offences today after escaping prosecution for assisted suicide [Guardian, 30 July] http://is.gd/1VHxR

Abortion

• Chloe Smith, the new Tory MP for Norwich North, supports abortion and Barack Obama [Norwich Evening News 24, 30 July] http://is.gd/1VHeR
• A drugs safety watchdog has approved the sale of the abortion-inducing drug RU486 in Italy [SBS, 31 July] http://is.gd/1VHXM
• Rocco Buttligione clarifies his position on aborton, saying that legal protection of unborn is "of course" needed [LifeSiteNews.com, 29 July] http://is.gd/1VG5Z

Embryology; stem cells

• U.S. President Barack Obama directed federal agencies on Thursday to enact new rules governing federally funded research on human embryonic stem cells [Reuters, 31 July] http://is.gd/1VHIr
• Research team claims to have found ways to turn on stem cell genes in human skin cells without using viruses or inserting new genes [Bionity, 31 July] http://is.gd/1VHqc

IVF; fertility treatment

• Report on IVF tourism by UK couples [95.8 Capital FM, 30 July] http://is.gd/1VGmr

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