News, weekly summary 29 October 2009

Abortion
  • SPUC is calling upon supporters to lobby a committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in order to stop two radical pro-abortion reports. The reports, authored by Christine McCafferty, the veteran anti-life British MP, will be debated by the assembly's Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee in Paris on 13 November. SPUC has issued a campaign alert with full information. [SPUC campaign alert, 27 October] http://is.gd/4EwEu
  • The Belfast high court has concluded two days of hearings in the judicial review of government abortion guidance, brought by SPUC. Mr James Dingemans, SPUC's barrister, outlined to Lord Justice Girvan why the government's guidance was inadequate and needs to be withdrawn and re-examined so that it deals more adequately with the issues. He reiterated that Northern Ireland law protected the unborn. Judgement in the case has been reserved. [SPUC, 27 and 28 October] http://is.gd/4F0aw and http://is.gd/4GbVf
  • The constitutional court in Peru has said that the morning-after pill may be abortifacient. The court has ruled supplying morning-after pills at public health care facilities is unconstitutional, as Peru's constitution forbids abortion. The ruling, however, still allow morning-after pills to be sold in pharmacies, provided that buyers are told that they may cause abortions. [Catholic News Agency, 23 October] http://is.gd/4CtUF
  • Catholic bishops from Africa have condemned the pro-abortion Maputo Protocol as "obnoxious". Concluding the Synod on Africa in Rome, the bishops issued a joint statement "denounc[ing] all surreptitious attempts to destroy and undermine the precious African values of family and human life." The Maputo Protocol is a charter of rights which has been adopted by the African Union. [LifeSiteNews.com, 23 October] http://is.gd/4CzUO

Embryology; fertility treatment; stem cells
  • SPUC has dismissed a claimed breakthrough towards the creation of artificial sperm as unethical and spurious. According to results published in Nature magazine online, researchers from the Stanford University School of Medicine have turned embryonic stem cells, taken from surplus IVF embryos, into human germ cells, which are the precursors of sperm and ova. [Daily Mail, 29 October] http://is.gd/4H3Y2 Anthony Ozimic of SPUC commented: "This research is unethical, because human embryos - innocent, equal members of the human family - were killed to extract the embryonic stem cells used in the research. Even if the research hadn't involved embryo-killing, the creation of artificial gametes would enable even more human embryos to be created outside the human body, to be killed and abused. [SPUC, 28 October] http://is.gd/4G8JN

Euthanasia and assisted suicide; disability
  • SPUC has responded to the news [Telegraph, 26 October] http://is.gd/4H4U9 that three Down's syndrome babies are aborted every day by proposing research on abortion for disability. John Smeaton, SPUC's national director, said: "We must find out whether pre-abortion counselling includes a warning that women are more likely to suffer psychologically if they abort a child because of his or her disability. We shall also carry out research among politicians. [John Smeaton, 27 October] http://is.gd/4Ef5R
  • SPUC Pro-Life has welcomed the withdrawal of Lord Alderdice's amendment to the Coroners and Justice bill. The amendment, which would have allowed assisted suicide, was opposed by a majority of those Lords who spoke in the debate. Anthony Ozimic of SPUC Pro-Life commented: "The idea of allowing assisted suicide was condemned as discriminatory, highly dangerous and threatening. Lords were offended by Lord Alderdice's suggestion that coroners should decide who may live or die under his amendment. His amendment was described as 'dismal', a 'travesty' and surrounded by 'weasal words'. We congratulate those Lords who so firmly opposed the amendment, and the many members of the public who lobbied Lords prior to the debate. The director of public prosecutions should read tonight's debate closely as he drafts his policy on prosecuting assisted suicide." [SPUC, 26 October] http://is.gd/4H4dp
  • A court set up under the British government's pro-euthanasia Mental Capacity Act has elicited thousands of complaints about its decisions in financial matters. The Court of Protection has the power to govern the financial and other affairs of mentally incapacitated people. 3,000 complaints have been made by patients' relatives about the court's heavy-handed and intrusive behaviour. [Daily Mail, 25 October] http://is.gd/4CkcG Anthony Ozimic of SPUC Pro-Life said: "We warned during the Mental Capacity Act's passage that a dangerous and extremely powerful legal bureaucracy was being established, transferring autonomy away from individuals and placing them at the mercy of officials. The Mental Capacity Act is unethical and unworkable and must be scrapped."

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


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