News,

The British parliamentary motion which warns about the morning-after pill has had an amendment proposed which claims that "emergency contraception" is not a method of abortion. Dr Jenny Tonge MP's amendment condones the supply of so-called "emergency contraception" by pharmacists and claims that 50 pharmacists have asked to join a trial scheme being conducted among 16 of their colleagues in the north-west of England. [840, Notices of Motions number 28, House of Commons, 18 January, 2000] Doctors are expected to ask the British government to introduce new rules on in vitro fertilisation (IVF) in the hope of reducing the number of triplets born to IVF patients. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists may recommend that no more than two embryos can be replaced in a woman's womb. Multiple births can be accompanied by defects such as cerebral palsy and spina bifida. Professor Ian Craft of the London Fertility Centre is quoted as saying that such a new regulation would hit older women and the less fertile. [The Independent and The Guardian, 19 January, 2000] A 57-year-old grandmother (probably in Britain) is to be given IVF treatment so that she can have her seventh baby by her fifth husband using eggs from her 36-year-old niece. [Daily Mail, 19 January, 2000] This bulletin is privately circulated by the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, 5/6 St Matthew Street, London, United Kingdom, SW1P 2JT, +44 20 7222 5845. The reliability of the news herein is dependent on the cited sources and opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the society. Please forward this bulletin to other interested parties. To subscribe or unsubscribe, send an appropriate email to Paul Danon, SPUC information officer, as information@spuc.freeserve.co.uk