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News, weekly summary 23 October 2009

Abortion

• The European Parliament has voted against pro-life amendments to stop EU money being spent on coercive and sex-selective abortions. The amendments were partly motivated by opposition to China's one-child policy, which involves compulsory abortions, and to the abortions of unborn girls because of a cultural preference for boys in India. There were 310 votes against and 290 in favour of the amendment on coercive abortion. Although there were 304 votes in favour and 300 votes against the amendment on sex-selective abortion, that amendment failed because the rules required a qualified majority for passage. [SPUC campaign alert 19 October, updated 23 October]
• Pro-lifers held a massive rally in Madrid, the Spanish capital, on Saturday to protest against a government's bill to expand abortion. Estimates of the size of the rally vary. The regional government and the BBC http://is.gd/4qFdJ estimated the crowd to be over a million. The rally's theme was "Every life matters". [Fr Tim Finigan, 18 October] http://is.gd/4qdVS

Embryology; fertility treatment; stem cells

• Researchers have made a breakthrough in the development of ethically-created stem cells. Scientists from the Scripps Research Institute in America used chemicals to speed up the process of creating induced pluripotency stem (iPS) cells. iPS cells are human cells modified to have properties similar to embryonic stem cells. [BBC, 18 October] http://is.gd/4qfg9

Euthanasia and assisted suicide; disability

• SPUC has called for pro-lifers to lobby members of the House of Lords on assisted suicide. Lord Alderdice has re-tabled a previously undebated amendment to allow assisted suicide to the government's Coroners and Justice bill. Indications are that the amendment will be debated either on Monday or Wednesday. SPUC is recommending that pro-lifers email Lords known to be opposed to assisted suicide. [SPUC campaign alert, 20 October] http://is.gd/4xBft
• Relatives of elderly patients who died in suspicious circumstances at a hospital in Gosport, England, have called for a new criminal investigation. The relatives have given prosecutors a dossier, calling for charges against Jane Barton, a doctor at the hospital. Medication prescribed by Dr Barton is alleged to have contributed to the patient's deaths. [Portsmouth News, 17 October] http://is.gd/4qfyA

General and miscellaneous

• A bishop of the Traditional Anglican Communion in Canada has said that his group agrees with the Catholic Church on pro-life and pro-family issues. Bishop Carl Reid made the comments following Pope Benedict's offer of a canonical structure within the Catholic Church for people wishing to leave the Anglican Communion. [LifeSiteNews.com, 22 October] http://is.gd/4xy3Q

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