Wednesday 29 February 2012

Statement by Glasgow midwives after abortion judgment

The two Glasgow midwives at the centre of today's court judgment on conscientious objection to abortion have made the following statement:

Miss Mary Doogan said:
"Connie [Wood] and I are both very disappointed and greatly saddened by today's verdict.

For most of our 20-plus years of employment as midwifery sisters at the Southern General Hospital we have been proud to be associated with a maternity unit in which the right of all midwifery staff to freedom of conscience has been acknowledged, protected and upheld with no detrimental outcome to any mother whatsoever.

Neither Connie nor I stand in judgement of any woman who chooses to terminate her pregnancy for whatever reasons. We are more than aware of the difficult choices that some expectant mothers may be faced with in a crisis pregnancy.
    
However, in holding to the view that life should be protected from conception to natural death, neither do we wish to be judged for exercising what is our legal right to refuse to participate in the process of medical termination of pregnancy.

We wish now to take some time to consider all options that are available to us (including appeal) before making any further comment."
Since both women remain employees of the health board they are not in a position to make further comment or give interviews.

SPUC has supported the midwives in bringing their case, underwriting their legal costs, and will now be considering their further legal options with them.

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Midwives must take charge of abortion says court

Judgment was handed down today in the case of two senior midwives from Glasgow who have a conscientious objection to abortion. The midwives have been told that they must accept the decision of their hospital management that they must oversee other midwives performing abortions on the labour ward.

Lady Smith, sitting in the Court of Session in Edinburgh, ruled that the senior midwives’ role is not covered by the conscience clause in the Abortion Act.

Commenting on the judgment, Paul Tully, SPUC's general secretary, told the media earlier today:
“We are very disappointed by the judgment. SPUC has supported the midwives in bringing their case, and will now be considering their further legal options with them."
The senior midwives argued that their legal right included not directing or assisting other midwives performing abortions.

Both the midwives have served for over 20 years at the Southern General Hospital, caring for many thousands of mothers and babies. The case arose when the hospital demanded that all senior midwives must take responsibility for overseeing mid-term and late term abortions. Since 2008 the hospital has insisted that these abortions, mostly for suspected disability in the foetus, must be conducted on the labour ward, rather than the gynaecology ward where most early abortions are performed.

The midwives in the case, Miss Mary Doogan and Mrs Connie Wood, argued that they had never been required to supervise abortion procedures in the past, and that the hospital was asking them to be morally, medically and legally responsible for abortions. They argued that this conflicted with their profound objection to abortions and with the right to opt-out that is protected in the 1967 Abortion Act.

The case was subject of a protracted grievance procedure before coming to court in January.

The late abortion procedure, called “Medical Termination of Pregnancy” or MTOP, entails the mother being given drugs to induce labour, and then having to go through labour and deliver the baby.  In more advanced pregnancies the baby is killed first by an ultrasound-guided lethal injection while still in the womb.

The hospital’s labour ward delivers 6000 babies every year, but is also required to provide about 1-3 MTOPs each week – a number which has increased since a special unit for diagnosing disability in the womb was transferred to the Southern General Hospital in January 2010.

The conscience clause was included in the Abortion Act to assure MPs that no-one would be forced to participate in abortions.

The midwives were represented in court by David Johnston, QC of Axiom Advocates and Marie Clark of Arnot Manderson Advocates.

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Tuesday 28 February 2012

Fall in teen pregnancies welcome but not due to greater provision of contraception

SPUC has responded to new figures released by the Office of National Statistics (ONS), which suggest a fall in teenage pregnancies. Any such falls are welcome but are attributed wrongly to greater provision of contraception.

Professor David Paton, professor of industrial economics at Nottingham University Business School, told the media earlier today:
"The fall in conception rates to minors is to be welcomed. The decrease in the rate of conceptions ending in abortion for under-16s over the past three years is particularly good news, although it is still higher than in 1999, when the last government introduced its Teenage Pregnancy Strategy. Since that time, there appears to be no correlation at all between changes to contraceptive services for young people and changes in the conception rate. For example, the number of contraceptive clinic sessions offered specifically for young people was static in 2010 following increases in previous years. Despite this, the teenage conception rate continued to fall in 2010.

Indeed, Anne Milton, the health minister, just last week stated the following when questioned about recent cuts to contraception services: 'Statistics on conceptions ... and abortions ... do not suggest that any recent changes to contraception provision offered by PCTs has had an impact on the number or rate of conceptions or abortions.' This bears out studies in the peer-reviewed literature which show that access to birth control (and in particular the morning-after pill) has little or no causal effect in reducing teenage pregnancy rates."
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Monday 27 February 2012

SPUC works to build international pro-life co-operation

Last week I was in Washington and New York meeting pro-life leaders of groups with which SPUC has been collaborating for four decades.

The mother of God is central to the work of Human Life International (HLI), the pro-life group based in Front Royal, Virginia, founded by Fr Paul Marx and which has pro-life groups and workers on the ground in over 100 countries.

Pictured around Our Lady's statue in the reception area of their Virginia headquarters are Fr Shenan Boquet (right), the new HLI president, Fr Peter West, vice-president for HLI missions, and yours truly.

We had a productive meeting about SPUC's work at the United Nations and HLI's vital presence in more countries than any other pro-life group. I told them that Europe owes a great debt to HLI for spreading the pro-life message and for the courageous HLI witnesses who have risen up in so many nations - many of whose work I have seen personally and deeply admired.

I pray that my meeting with Fr Boquet and his team - and my meetings with other pro-life leaders I met during my short visit - will be part of a renewed and powerful commitment to international pro-life co-operation.

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Thursday 23 February 2012

Sex-selective abortion is inevitable consequence of easy abortion access

SPUC has responded to The Telegraph's report this evening which suggests that some British doctors are complicit in sex-selective abortions.

Anthony Ozimic, SPUC's communications manager, told the media earlier this evening:
"This investigation confirms the reality of eugenics in modern British medicine, in which some innocent human beings are deemed too inconvenient to be allowed to live. Sex-selective abortion is an inevitable consequence of easy access to abortion, a situation to which the pro-abortion lobby has no convincing answer. The government needs to cut its ties to private abortion providers and to abortion rights organisations. They are complicit in sex-selective abortion domestically through their support for abortion on demand, and internationally through their complicity in China's population control programme."
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Wednesday 22 February 2012

Government says cuts to contraception haven't increased pregnancies or abortions

Anne Milton MP
The British government has said that cuts to contraception haven't increased pregnancies or abortions. In a newly-published parliamentary answer (Hansard, 20 Feb. 2012, col. 679W) Anne Milton, the health minister, said that:
"Statistics on conceptions (published by the Office for National Statistics) and abortions (published by the Department of Health) do not suggest that any recent changes to contraception provision offered by PCTs has had an impact on the number or rate of conceptions or abortions."
In a message to the SPUC, Professor David Paton, professor of industrial economics at Nottingham University Business School, commented on Mrs Milton's admission:
"This admission by the Health Minister is long overdue but very welcome. In 2001, I published a paper in the Journal of Health Economics demonstrating that access to contraception had not had the desired effect of cutting underage pregnancies or abortions in the UK. When asked about my research in the House of Commons, Hazel Blears, the then Minister for Health stated that interventions like 'access to youth contraceptive clinics have been shown to reduce teenage pregnancy rates but do not hasten the onset of or increase sexual activity among young people' and her Government ploughed millions of pounds into increasing access to contraception for young people."
Professor Paton continued:
"Contrary to Hazel Blears’ claims, the peer-reviewed research published both before and since has found little or no evidence that access to contraception and, in particular, emergency birth control (the morning after pill) cuts unwanted pregnancy or abortion rates amongst teenagers. Some 10 years later, it is very gratifying to see the Department of Health finally admitting that restrictions on access to contraception provision do not appear to have an effect on conception or abortion rates. Indeed, despite the reported restrictions to contraception services, the latest statistics (due to be published next week) are expected to show a further decrease in the teenage pregnancy rates."
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Must-read pro-life news-stories, Wed 22 Feb

Top stories:

Dolphins are persons with the right to life, claim experts
A group of experts meeting in Canada are claiming that dolphins are persons with the right to life. The experts are calling for recognition of their Declaration on the Rights of Cetaceans. [Metro, 21 February] Anthony Ozimic of SPUC commented: "The most commonly-accepted definition of person is 'an individual substance of a rational nature'. Dolphins are not of a rational nature, unlike unborn children who have an innate rationality which develops with age. The proposed declaration shows just how far modern bioethics has become divorced from reality."

UK prime minister reiterates determination to establish gay marriage
The office of David Cameron, the British prime minister, has reiterated his strong personal support for the establishment of a gay marriage. An unnamed source told The Independent newspaper: "Nothing has changed on this as far as he is concerned. He is very passionate about this subject – it is something that has defined him." [Independent, 21 February] SPUC has published a position paper and a background paper in the run-up to next month's public consultation on gay marriage.

Other stories:

Abortion
Embryology
  • UK mother went to Belgium for controversial IVF screening process [Mail, 16 February]
Population
Sexual ethics
General
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Tuesday 21 February 2012

Ash Wednesday is a national day of prayer and fasting for life

Christ fasting in the desert
The Good Counsel Network's next national day of prayer and fasting for life is tomorrow, Ash Wednesday. Please support this initiative - the full details are below:

And He said to them; This kind (of demon) can go out by nothing but prayer and fasting.

Gospel of Mark 9:29.

Since the 5th July 2008 The Good Counsel Network has organised monthly National days of prayer and fasting for life, the first was to prevent the passing of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill. Although the bill was passed some of the more damaging anti-life amendments were not added to it, including an attack on pro-life counselling and the extension to Northern Ireland of the Abortion Act. There had also been 40 days of Prayer and Fasting in Northern Ireland to ensure that this law was not extended. This only confirmed what we already knew; it is clear from the work that we do at Good Counsel Network, advising women who are strongly set on abortion, that the struggle to end abortion is a spiritual struggle and not merely one of practical concerns or politics.

February 22nd, Ash Wednesday is the next National Day of Prayer and Fasting for Life. Please join us in fasting. You could fast from all food except bread and water for the day or fast from a particular food or luxury, e.g. chocolate, alcohol, cigarettes or tv. Fast from whatever you can given your state of health etc, but make sure that it is something that involves a sacrifice to yourself. We are asking people to say a Rosary (or an extra Rosary if you say it daily already). You could also offer an extra effort such as going to Mass, or an extra Mass, on the day, or going to Adoration.

And the people of Nineveh believed in God; they proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least...God saw their efforts to renounce their evil ways. And God relented about the disaster which He had threatened to bring on them, and He did not bring it. Jonah 3:5,10.

For more information and a printable poster click here.

This Lent come and pray with us at an abortuary, there is our daily vigil in London, 40 Days 4 Life will start on Ash Wednesday in London, in Birmingham, in Brighton and in Manchester. For details of others vigils around the Country see here.

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Please continue to lobby government to overrule abortion ads decision

As I blogged on 26 January, the government should use its powers to stop TV advertising by commercial abortion centres. Please continue to lobby the government to make this happen. Please write to your Member of Parliament (MP), asking him/her to write to Mr Hunt on your behalf, reminding Mr Hunt of his powers in relation to Ofcom, and urging Mr Hunt to use those powers to block all advertisements by abortion centres. You can write to your MP at the House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA. If you’re not sure of your MP’s name, please visit http://www.spuc.org.uk/mps (where you can also send an electronic message to your MP). Please copy or forward any replies you receive from MPs to SPUC’s political department, either at SPUC HQ or by email to political@spuc.org.uk

Below are eight bullet-points you can use in your communication to your MP.

Why Jeremy Hunt must overrule the Advertising Standards Authority’s decision to allow abortion advertising on TV, and deter the likes of Marie Stopes from peddling its deadly trade:
  1. As well as charging for private abortions, abortion providers like Marie Stopes benefits from lucrative NHS contracts so can afford to advertise on TV, while pro-life groups can’t.
  2. Marie Stopes International is a killing machine which is spreading abortion to the world’s poorest nations. In 2008, supported by funds from the UK government, they performed around 600,000 abortions overseas.
  3. Marie Stopes has a vested interest in more abortion. It carries out 65,000 abortions a year in Britain—mostly funded by the NHS—to the tune of £25 million.
  4. Advertising abortion on TV sends a message to young people that killing an unborn child is a reasonable solution to human problems. It isn’t.
  5. When women and girls go to Marie Stopes they are not told the true nature of abortion and are systematically directed towards choosing abortion.
  6. The Advertising Standards Authority cannot be trusted to give unbiased and impartial judgements. Amazingly, the ASA fails to accept that Marie Stopes is really advertising abortion. They say its TV advert merely advertises ‘pregnancy advice’, not abortion.
  7. 4,600 concerned individuals sent letters and postcards of protest to the ASA before and after the Marie Stopes advert was broadcast. Another 29,000 people have signed SPUC’s petition to the prime minister seeking a ban on TV ads.
  8. Unelected quangos are sanctioning the deaths of unborn children, while the views of the general public are ignored.
You can read a more detailed briefing about abortion advertising on my blog of 26 January.

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Monday 20 February 2012

Call immediately on Council of Europe representatives to reject anti-life/anti-family recommendation

Tomorrow (Tuesday 21 February 2012), the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe will hold one of the final meetings on a draft “Recommendation on the rights and legal status of children and parental responsibilities”. (The  Council of Europe is made up of 47 Member States and is separate from the EU Council, Parliament, and Commission). This draft Recommendation is a dangerous and ideologically-driven document. Being a legally non-binding document, its purpose is to create so-called ‘soft law’ and mislead people about European opinion on the family.  The timing of this draft Recommendation could adversely affect relevant pending cases at the European Court of Human Rights.

Please:
Please do this immediately (including on Tuesday the 21st). You do not have to use all of the points below. Select a few for your letter, putting the points into your own words. You can email any and all Council of Europe Member-State permanent representatives. Make the reason for your email clear in the subject line.

Points to include in emails to permanent representatives:

The Recommendation: 
  • promotes IVF practices (principles 17 and 18), thus promoting the abuse (often lethal) of embryonic children, and creates confusion about whom is the actual mother and father. The separation of marriage from procreation, and the redefinition of parents and family, is an attack upon the best interests of the child who needs a mother and father in a heterosexual marriage, which is normative and best for children. 
  • supports gay married and civilly-partnered couples claiming the right to be considered parents in the case of IVF (paragraph 71 of the explanatory memorandum). This will only be used as a form of pressure by the gay lobby
  • promotes and normalises the practice of surrogacy (principles 7 and 8)
  • defines “parents” as defined by national law, rather than parents as “mother” and “father” (principle 2). This leaves the door open for gay couples to claim the title of parents and denies the need for a mother and father. It also creates confusion regarding sperm and egg donors, and surrogacy.
  • places heterosexual cohabitation and civil unions on the same footing as heterosexual marriage (principles 11 and 12)
  • claims (principle 1) that some children are discriminated against on grounds of their sexual orientation (e.g. homosexual) or gender identity (e.g. transgender).  This claim manipulates childhood for ideological ends and has no basis in international agreements
  • subjects the child’s best interests to private agreement, by allowing a parent to give parental responsibilities to a spouse or civil partner (principle 24.3)
  • redefines (principle 20) the authority of mothers and fathers to exclude the child’s moral and spiritual welfare, as defined and upheld in international and human rights documents (UN Declaration and Convention on the Rights of the Child; Preamble of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union; Council of Europe’s own White Paper on legal consequences of parentage)
  • disregards the fact that many of the practices relating to relationships, procreation, and family included in this draft Recommendation are in fact illegal in many European countries.
  • attempts to go beyond, and contradicts, European and UN-agreed conventions and treaties which are legally binding – even though the Recommendation is non-binding on Member States and courts.
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Saturday 18 February 2012

Please support the 100 Masses for life campaign

Pat Sammon, an SPUC activist, is promoting a "100 Masses for life" campaign. She writes:
"Dear friend in Christ,

Please would you consider having one Holy Mass offered during Lent (Feb 22nd-April 7th) for the following intention:-
FOR AN END TO THE ‘CULTURE OF DEATH’ AND THE CONVERSION OF HEARTS.
By any priest of your choice. Please request that the intention is publicly announced, not just as a ‘private intention’
In order to assess the success of this campaign, please confirm Mass and venue if possible:
Pat 07747698553. patriciamarysammon@btinternet.com "
I encourage my readers to please support this campaign. Congratulations to Pat on this excellent initiative.

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Friday 17 February 2012

Episcopal failures to oppose the sexual revolution have global consequences

Michael Voris, the American Catholic apologist, has this week been visiting the Philippines. In a video recorded there, Michael said:
"Obama's attempt to ram birth control down the Church's throat [is] exactly what is happening here in the Philippines ... [I]n America, the Catholic hierarchy folded like a house of cards 40 years ago in the face of the sexual revolution ... Catholics in America need to keep Catholics in other countries in mind when casting their vote for US president. It isn't just the Church in America that Obama is attacking, but the Church all over the world."


An analogy can be made with the situation in the UK vis-a-vis the Cameron government's promotion of homosexual marriage at home and so-called gay rights abroad. British government policy can have a significant effect internationally. Policy changes in Britain have the capacity to influence policy change in the English-speaking world and in Europe. I pray that Archbishop Nichols and his fellow English and Welsh bishops will not "fold like a house of cards" in the face of the Cameron government's sexual revolution, abandoning Catholics in other countries to the homosexual agenda. It is encouraging to see Bishop Mark Davies of Shrewsbury taking a strong stand.

*SPUC's national council, which is SPUC's policy-making body, elected by its grassroots volunteers, last year passed the following resolution to defend marriage:
"That the Council of SPUC, noting the various proposals currently being made by the present Government and others in regard to the status and standing of marriage and its consequent effect upon family life; and further noting the higher proportionate incidence of abortion in unmarried women compared to married women, resolves to do its utmost to fight for the retention of the traditional understanding of marriage in the history, culture and law of the United Kingdom, namely the exclusive union of one man with one woman for life; and accordingly instructs its officers and executive committee to conduct a major campaign to this end, to co-operate with other persons and societies in so doing and specifically to target the Government's consultation period starting in March, 2012, in regard to (so-called) same sex marriage."
**Why is homosexuality (and sexual ethics generally) important specifically for the pro-life movement? The late Pope John Paul II, the great pro-life champion, taught in no. 97 of his 1995 encyclical Evangelium Vitae that it is an illusion to think that we can build a true culture of human life if we do not offer adolescents and young adults an authentic education in sexuality, and in love, and the whole of life according to their true meaning and in their close interconnection.

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Thursday 16 February 2012

Must-read pro-life news-stories, Thu 16 Feb

Nikki Kenward, anti-euthanasia campaigner
Top stories:

UK IVF regulator making millions from fees
Britain's IVF regulator has made millions of pounds from fees levied on IVF centres. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) charges £75 per patient. [Independent, 16 February] Anthony Ozimic of SPUC commented: "This is yet more evidence indicating that IVF is mainly an industry run for the benefit of vested interests, rather than a medical answer for couples anxious to conceive."

Draft bill by UK gay lobby would abolish terms 'husband' and 'wife'
A bill drafted by Stonewall, the gay lobby group, to legalise gay marriage would abolish the terms 'husband' and 'wife' in English law. The bill would also allow civil partnerships to be re-named as marriages. The bill was drafted ahead of a government consultation on legalising gay marriage. [Peter Saunders, 15 February]

Other stories:

Abortion
Euthanasia
Sexual ethics
  • Listen to SPUC's Christine Hudson speak out against secret birth control implants for schoolgirls [John Smeaton, 16 February]
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Listen to SPUC's Christine Hudson speak out against secret birth control implants for schoolgirls

Christine Hudson, a parent and SPUC activist, was interviewed last week on the BBC's PM programme about secret birth control implants for schoolgirls. You can listen to Christine's excellent contribution on SPUC's YouTube channel or by clicking on the video box below. We apologise for the imperfect quality of the audio.



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Wednesday 15 February 2012

Must-read pro-life news-stories, Wed 15 February

40 Days For Life banquet
Top stories:

Groundbreaking weekend for pro-lifers in London
The US founders of the 40 Days For Life initiative are visiting the UK. David Bereit and Shawn Carney have so far visited pro-lifers in London, Birmingham and Manchester. Almost 200 people attended the inaugural 40 Days For Life banquet in Westminster cathedral hall. [SPUC youth blog, 13 February]

UK doctors' union proposes radical changes to organ donation system 
The British Medical Association (BMA) has proposed radical changes to organ donation system.  The changes include presumed consent for organ removal as well as keeping patients alive solely to enable organ removal. [Telegraph, 13 February] In a separate move, two US bioethicists have argued for the abolition of the dead-donor organ removal rule. Anthony Ozimic of SPUC commented: “The authors of this obnoxious paper have forgotten the lessons of the 20th century of the consequences of making the right to life dependent upon the possession of abilities. The authors should read the famous 1941 sermon of Blessed Clemens Cardinal von Galen against the Nazi euthanasia programme, who said: ‘Once admit the right to kill unproductive persons . . . then none of us can be sure of his life.’”    [LifeSiteNews.com, 8 February]

Other stories:

Abortion
Embryology
Euthanasia
Population
Sexual ethics
Population
  • US university planned master race for post-war UK, suggests author [Mail, 13 February]
General
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Wednesday 8 February 2012

Archbishop of Canterbury warns of "disaster" if assisted suicide mirrors abortion dynamic

Earlier this week Dr Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury and head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, addressed the Church of England's General Synod during a debate on assisted suicide. Among other things, Dr Williams said (full text, audio):
"[T]here have been a number of discussions in Parliament in recent years on this subject, and the emergence of this so-called Independent Commission and its report prompts the question “What has changed to make a re-opening of the question necessary?” Paradoxically, the answer seems to be that the only thing that has changed, and that is still changing, is advances in medical science and in palliative care. In other words, changes in exactly the direction which suggests that we do not need a change in the law such as envisaged.

...

"Law exists so that people may be protected, especially the vulnerable. Law exists to guarantee equality of protection to all.

...

"What we are faced with here in these proposals from the Commission is a legal outcome in which protection is diminished, not only for vulnerable individuals but also for medical professionals. A point has been made, and it needs to be made again, that it is front-line physicians who are going to find themselves more and more in a deeply uncomfortable – perhaps unsustainable – place in all this.

...

"The default position on abortion has shifted quite clearly over the past 40 years, and to see the default position shifting on the sanctity of life would be a disaster.

...

"To say that there are certain conditions in which life is legally declared to be not worth living is a major shift in the moral and spiritual atmosphere in which we live ... [T]o change the law on this subject is, I believe, to change something vital in our sense of the value of life itself."
Thankfully the General Synod voted overwhelmingly to "affirm the intrinsic value of every human life and express its support for the current law on assisted suicide".

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Watch SPUC's Anthony McCarthy speak on Channel 4 about gay marriage

Anthony McCarthy, SPUC's education and publications manager, this week appeared on Channel Four's 4thought.tv series to speak on the subject of gay marriage. You can watch Anthony's appearance here.

Anthony said that neither the church nor the state has the right to redefine marriage; and that to try to change the heterosexual nature of marriage is to undermine an institution which protects children and society. You can read more about SPUC's position on gay marriage in our position paper and background paper.

I appeared on 4thought.tv in November 2010 on abortion, and Anthony Ozimic, SPUC's communications manager, appeared in June last year on organ donation.

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Today's must-read pro-life news-stories, Wed 8 Feb

Photo showing size of implants
Top stories:

13-year-old girls fitted secretly with birth control implants

13-year-old girls at nine schools in Southampton, England, have been fitted with birth control implants without their parents' knowledge. Norman Wells, director of the Family Education Trust, said: "Schemes like these inevitably lead to boys putting pressure on girls to have sex. The last thing they should be doing is fuelling the flames of promiscuity and the sexual health crisis with schemes that treat parents, the law and basic moral principles with contempt." [Telegraph, 8 February] John Smeaton, SPUC director, commented: "These implants not only act as contraceptives, but can also act as abortifacients, killing newly-conceived embryos by stopping them from implanting in the womb."

Leader of Anglican Communion says legalising assisted suicide would spell "disaster"
Dr Rowan Williams, the leader of the Anglican Communion, has said that legalising assisted suicidewould spell "disaster". Addressing a General Synod debate, Dr Williams said: "[T]o change the law on this subject is, I believe, to change something vital in our sense of the value of life itself." The synod voted overwhelmingly to "affirm the intrinsic value of every human life and express its support for the current law on assisted suicide" [Archbishop of Canterbury, 6 February]

Morning-after pills dispensed by vending machine at US university
Students at a university in the American state of Pennsylvania can buy morning-after pills from a vending machine. The machine also provides condoms and pregnancy tests. [Mail, 7 February] According to the manufacturers, morning-after pills may cause early abortions by preventing embryos implanting in the womb.

Other stories:

General
  • Sarah Palin’s touching account of living with a son with Down’s syndrome [Mail, 6 February]
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Tuesday 7 February 2012

Catholic Voices amends abortion blogpost but has further work to do

Following my blogpost yesterday evening ("Does Catholic Voices now "accept that abortion should be legal"?"), I welcome the fact that Catholic Voices has now amended its blogpost. Here is the original version of the section I focused on (my emphases in bold):
"But in reality, Catholics on campus have nothing to fear. The motion contains no definition of "pro-choice"; if it means simply someone who accepts that abortion should be legal, most Catholics -- including the bishops of England and Wales, who advocate incremental restrictions, but not yet a total ban -- would fit that description.

And that is why it may turn out that the UCLU motion will come to be seen not as closing down discussion of abortion but a major spur to opening it up."
Today the same section now reads:
"But in reality, Catholics on campus have nothing to fear. The motion's definition of pro-choice ideology is so narrow and extreme, and its actions so brow-beating and authoritarian, that it will show informed pro-lifers who accept that abortion cannot be prohibited immediately -- including the bishops of England and Wales, who advocate incremental restrictions, but realise that a total ban is currently impossible to achieve -- to be the true advocates of moderate, rational and humane principle.

And that is why it may turn out that the UCLU motion will come to be seen not as closing down discussion of abortion but a major spur to opening it up."
Catholic Voices, however, has not amended the blogpost's erroneous references to abortion law (my emphases in bold):
  • "Of course women have the legal right, within the 1967 Act, to seek an abortion; but does the UCLU believe that women have the right to break the law by seeking an abortion after the 24-week legal upper limit?"
  • "Fewer than 5 per cent of the population believes, as the UCLU motion suggests, that the legal upper time limit for abortion should be increased from 24 weeks."
  • "Should someone who believes the limit should be lowered from the current 24 weeks be classed as pro-choice or pro-life?"
Firstly, it is not clear whether "seek an abortion" means simply that, or means (as the context implies) "seek and have an abortion". Whatever it means, however, there is no "legal right" to abortion in any law in the United Kingdom. Abortion is a criminal offence under the Offences Against The Person Act 1861. The Abortion Act 1967 does not create a "legal right" to abortion: rather, the Act provides automatic exoneration from prosecution for those involved in an abortion if they follow the Act's conditions. It is dangerously irresponsible for a Catholic organisation to concede that there is a "legal right" to abortion in domestic law, as such concessions are gold-dust for the international pro-abortion lobby. At the United Nations and other high-level international institutions, the pro-abortion lobby repeats examples of national laws which grant a "legal right" to abortion, in order to argue that there is a worldwide consensus that abortion is a woman's right. Pro-lifers, for the sake of the international battle for the unborn, cannot afford to be unclear about the criminal status of abortion in British national law.

Secondly, as I said in my blogpost yesterday, 24 weeks is not the upper time-limit for abortion in Britain; in fact, abortion is allowed up to birth under the Abortion Act 1967 as amended in 1990. Only two grounds (C and D) of the seven grounds for abortion (as used in the official abortion statistics) are limited to 24 weeks; the other five grounds have no time-limit i.e. up to birth. Under those five grounds, abortions are performed on both disabled children (under ground E) and non-disabled children (under grounds A, B, F and G). The fact that the majority of abortions are performed under the two time-limited grounds does not make those grounds normative, either in law or in fact. Also, abortions under the five grounds with no time-limit are not exceptions, either in law or in fact. In law, those five grounds have equal status with the two time-limited grounds; and in fact, abortions on both disabled and non-disabled children are performed on average every day. (See A Way of Life section 1.2.2 and other sections for more information about abortion law. Word-searches on my blog and the SPUC website will also provide more such information.)

So Catholic Voices has further work to do in correcting its blogpost - and proving that it is a reliable source of pro-life commentary.

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Monday 6 February 2012

Does Catholic Voices now "accept that abortion should be legal"?

On Friday the Catholic Voices Monitor blog commented on a pro-abortion motion passed by the University College London Union (UCLU). Monitor wrote:
"The motion then went on to attempt to ban pro-life meetings -- 'to ensure that any future open events focusing on the issue of termination invite an anti-choice speaker and a pro-choice speaker as well as an independent chair, to ensure there is a balance to the argument' -- in resolving that: 'When clubs and societies invite pro-life speakers they should also invite a pro- choice speaker to balance the debate and vice-versa.'"
The Monitor blog-post concluded (my emphases in bold):
"But in reality, Catholics on campus have nothing to fear. The motion contains no definition of "pro-choice"; if it means simply someone who accepts that abortion should be legal, most Catholics -- including the bishops of England and Wales, who advocate incremental restrictions, but not yet a total ban -- would fit that description.

And that is why it may turn out that the UCLU motion will come to be seen not as closing down discussion of abortion but a major spur to opening it up."
Firstly, Monitor is wrong that "the motion contains no definition of "pro-choice". The motion reads:
"This Union believes:
1. That both men and women have the right to exercise complete control over their own bodies and this includes the right to decide whether to terminate a pregnancy or not.
2. Safe and free termination should be available for all who require it..."
and
"This Union resolves:
1. To officially take a pro-choice stance and support students' right to choose the best option for them when pregnant, whether this involves continuing or terminating the pregnancy."
Secondly, Catholic teaching cannot be 'reframed' as 'pro-choice' on abortion, any more that it can be 'reframed' as 'pro-choice' on racism. Yes, pro-lifers can assert rightly that they are 'pro-choice' in the sense they offer women ethical alternatives to abortion, or that they give unborn children the choice to live which abortion denies. However, what pro-lifers, Catholics, bishops etc. cannot do is "accept[ ] that abortion should be legal" and therefore adopt the label 'pro-choice' on that basis.

Thirdly, does Catholic Voices now "accept[ ] that abortion should be legal"? For this is what is strongly implied by the Monitor blogpost when it says that "most Catholics -- including the bishops of England and Wales" "accept[ ] that abortion should be legal". The function of this purported acceptance is placed by the Monitor blogpost in a positive context:
  • "[T]he motion may...offer[ ] an opportunity for Catholic voices to be heard where normally they are shut out."
  • "Catholics on campus have nothing to fear"
  • "[I]t may turn out that the UCLU motion will come to be seen not as closing down discussion of abortion but a major spur to opening it up."
Fourthly, what is Catholic Voices's source(s) for its claim that "most Catholics -- including the bishops of England and Wales" "accept[ ] that abortion should be legal"?

Last year Dr Austen Ivereigh, one of Catholic Voices's founders and coordinators, co-authored a book entitled: "Catholic Voices: putting the case for the Church in an era of 24-hour news". Among a number of dubious things, the book says (p.159):
"The abortion question is really two: the wrongness/licitness of abortion itself; and what the law and the state should determine."
However, St Thomas Aquinas, the common Doctor of the Catholic Church, taught that:
"Now human law is framed for a number of human beings, the majority of whom are not perfect in virtue. Wherefore human laws do not forbid all vices, from which the virtuous abstain, but only the more grievous vices, from which it is possible for the majority to abstain; and chiefly those that are to the hurt of others, without the prohibition of which human society could not be maintained: thus human law prohibits murder, theft and such like."
Summa Theologica I-II, q.96, art.2
Abortion is indeed:
  • one of "the more grievous vices";
  • "possible for the majority to abstain" from;
  • "chiefly...to the hurt of others";
  • "without the prohibition of which human society could not be maintained"; and
  • "murder".
Legal bans on abortion:
  • exists for the sake of the common good (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church #1951);
  • check audacity, safeguard innocence and prevent harm (cf. St Isidore, quoted by St Thomas, Summa Theologica I-II, q.95, art.1);
  • bind men to the common principle of the natural moral law that the intentional killing of the innocent is always wrong (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church #1957).
To accept as currently desirable - as distinct from recognising as deplorable - the legal availability of abortion is to accept an operating principle of fatal discrimination against the unborn; and would undermine the efforts of the pro-life movement internationally.

The Catholic Voices book also says (p.164):
"To re-criminalise abortion is an unrealistic political ambition".
Is this not, however, a self-fulfilling prophecy, the acceptance of which is a goal within a strategy often employed by the pro-abortion lobby to make the success of their ‘progressive’ agenda seem inevitable?

Along with Dr Ivereigh, another likely source for Catholic Voices' erroneous ideas about abortion is Clifford Longley, one of the "experts assisting" Catholic Voices'. Mr Longley is the editorial consultant of The Tablet, which is notorious for its dissent from Catholic teaching on pro-life and pro-family issues. Dr Ivereigh is a former deputy editor of The Tablet, to which he remains unswervingly loyal. Last November Mr Longley defended Dr Jon Cruddas, the pro-abortion Catholic MP, by rejecting the claim that Britain's law on abortion should mirror the moral law by banning abortion (see my letter published in The Tablet in response. Tabula delenda est.)

The Monitor blogpost also makes the error that the upper time-limit for abortion in Britain is 24 weeks, when in fact abortion is allowed up to birth under the Abortion Act 1967 as amended in 1990. Such an error is understandable when repeated by the biased and ignorant mainstream media, but is simply not tolerable when repeated by an organisation which was set up to dispel such myths and which includes speakers active in pro-life organisations.

Among the speakers for Catholic Voices are good pro-life people, from good pro-life families and with valuable pro-life experience and skills. They joined Catholic Voices because they want Catholic teaching, including pro-life teachings, to be heard in the media in a totally truthful and accurate way. Those young talents are being let down badly by Austen Ivereigh, Jack Valero and some of their fellow Catholic Voices, who continue to misrepresent those teachings.

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Friday 3 February 2012

On this day in pro-life history, 3 Feb

Caxton Hall
On this day (3 Feb) in pro-life history in 1967, the journalists C.H. Rolph (also known as C.H. Hewitt) wrote an attack on the newly-founded Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) in The New Statesman. SPUC had hosted a meeting attended by around 200 consultant obstetricians and gynaecologists in Caxton Hall, London. Rolph wrote:
"[T]he Society for the Protection of Unborn Children and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists are really too much. I don’t know how many of the 460 consultant gynaecologists in England and Wales are members of the RCOG, but last week at Caxton Hall a couple of hundred of them voted 192 to 5 against the [Abortion] Bill and one of them said they would all emigrate if it became law, apparently on the ground that it would turn them into compulsory state abortionists. I don't think even the ones at the meeting will go abroad..."
It should noted that the RCOG,  was then opposed to the Abortion Bill (later Act). In 1966, the RCOG Council commented:
“It has been repeatedly stated that as many as 100,000 criminal abortions are induced in this country each year, and a more recent estimate is 250,000. These, and an earlier figure of 50,000, are without any secure factual foundation of which we are aware.”
(“Legalised Abortion: Report by the Council of the Royal College of
Obstetricians and Gynaecologists”, British Medical Journal, 1966; 1: 850-854.)

The RCOG Council showed that, in 1962, only approximately 14,600 women in England and Wales had received hospital treatment for the consequences of criminal abortion.

Yet, as Rolph rightly predicted, not many obstetricians or gynaecologists emigrated or changed profession following the passing of the Abortion Act. Most simply conformed to the Abortion Act, and those who wouldn't conform were marginalised. In fact, today the RCOG is the de facto trade union for Britain's abortionists, and now violates the right of conscientious objection to abortion (contrary to Archbishop Vincent Nichols' claim last October). The RCOG's policy is that:
"abortion and contraception are an integral part of comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services."
and also that:
"Practitioners cannot claim exemption from giving advice or performing the preparatory steps to arrange an abortion where the request meets the legal requirements. Such steps include referral to another doctor, as appropriate."
This phenomenon of conformity disproves the argument made by some liberal voices within Catholic circles that the pro-life movement should not insist on legal bans on abortion being passed and upheld. The effect of the Abortion Act was not simply to increase massively the number of abortions (ten-fold within a few years of the Act being passed to over 200,000 today). The Abortion Act led to the wholesale corruption of obstetrics and gynaecology, with doctors putting conformity to an unjust law above human rights, medical ethics, proper healthcare and the welfare of women. This phenomenon has been rightly described as "the banality of evil" (for more information about it, read "The effect of abortion on moral character" by Anthony Ozimic, SPUC's communications manager).

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Thursday 2 February 2012

Eminent legal academic offers hard-hitting challenge to Falconer assisted suicide report

Dr Jacqueline Laing
Dr Jacqueline Laing, senior lecturer in law at London Metropolitan University, has written a hard-hitting challenge in The New Law Journal to the Falconer report on assisted suicide. Here are some of her most salient points:
  • "With a steadily ageing population in Western countries and numerous political, financial and medical interests in the procedure, it is, perhaps, unsurprising that the subject should now be raised annually."
  • "Discrimination against the vulnerable, and thus Art 14 incompatibility, bedevils this ethical terrain ... Once enshrined in law, the practice invariably involves a move towards the elimination of those who have not asked to be killed, those who are unwanted, those who are lonely and low-income (KNMG Dutch Physicians Guidelines, Position paper, 23 June 2011), and those whose deaths offer some advantage to third parties controlling the process."
  • "In this environment failures of transparency, ie lies and deception, are both pragmatic and inevitable. Belgium is now well-known for its failures of transparency with only 52.8% of acts of euthanasia reported to the authorities in Flanders. (Reporting of euthanasia in medical practice in Flanders, Belgium (BMJ 2010; 341: c5174).)"
  • "[In the Netherlands] voluntary euthanasia has given way to non-voluntary euthanasia, false reporting and under-reporting."
  • "Falconer et al seriously underestimate human capacity for error and vice ... Falconer and his stacked commission with their foot-in-thedoor approach to this programme, invite, institutionalise and incentivise murder— nothing less."
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Must-read pro-life news-stories, Thu 2 Feb

Glasgow centre doing egg screening
Top stories:

Pre-IVF egg-screening test criticised by SPUC
SPUC has criticised a Scottish IVF centre for introducing a technique to screen eggs for genetic abnormalities. The Glasgow Centre for Reproductive Medicine claims that the screening will improve the outcomes of IVF treatment. SPUC Scotland said: "Even if egg-screening helps to increase the number of births following IVF, it will still be the case that the vast majority of embryos created in the laboratory will not be born. IVF demeans human dignity by reducing procreation to quality-controlled, factory-like production. Doctors should instead be pursuing the far more successful ethical alternatives to IVF." [Herald, 28 January]

New Spanish government abolishes anti-life school course
The newly-elected Spanish government has announced that it is abolishing a citizenship school course which promoted abortion and other anti-life and anti-family ideas. The previous Socialist government had imposed the Education for the Citizenry course on schools against the wishes of many parents. [CNA, 1 February] John Smeaton, SPUC director, commented: "I congratulate the many parents whose campaign to uphold their fundamental right to be their children's primary educator has been successful."

India most dangerous place in world for girl children, suggests new figures
A report by the United Nations suggests that India is the most dangerous place in the world for girl childen. Figures by the UN's Department of Economic and Social Affairs suggest that from 2000 to 2010 there were 56 deaths of boys aged one to five for every 100 female deaths. Campaigners cite sex-selective abortion, infanticide and deliberate neglect as part of the phenomenon. [Telegraph, 1 February]

Other stories:
  • Occupy Wall Street protesters disrupt pro-life meeting, throw condoms at Catholic schoolgirls [Fox, 31 January]
  • US breast cancer charity stops funding Planned Parenthood and embryonic stem cell research centres [LifeNews.com, 1 February]
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Wednesday 1 February 2012

Must-read pro-life news-stories, Wed 1 Feb

Top stories:

Act now to get government to block advertising by commercial abortion centres
The two bodies which draft the advertising code of practice have made changes to allow “commercial post-conception advice services” - in reality, abortion clinics which earn income from performing abortions - to advertise on television and radio, in print and elsewhere. Anthony Ozimic, SPUC's communications manager, said that the advertising industry's "supposed 'watchdog' is acting as the abortion industry's poodle." [SPUC, 21 January] The change will come into effect on 30 April. The government should use its powers to stop such advertising SPUC's question-and-answer briefing will give you the information you need to help make this happen.

US study used to claim that abortion is 14 times safer than giving birth
A new US study is being used to claim that abortion is 14 times safer than giving birth. The researchers drew on data from the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute. Anthony Ozimic of SPUC told the Huffington Post: "Whatever the merits or otherwise of this study and its authors’ conclusions, the fact remains that the Republic of Ireland, where abortion is banned, has one of the world’s best records on maternal health, better than the US or the UK where abortion is available easily. The key to saving pregnant women's lives, whether in the developed or developing world, are improvements in primary healthcare and specialist pregnancy care. Abortion neither treats conditions nor cures illness." [Huffington Post, 24 January]

'Three-parent' embryo technique "unethical and macabre" says SPUC
SPUC has described as "macabre and unethical" a so-called 'three-parent' embryo technique which is due to receive £5.8 million of funding. SPUC was responding to the announcement by the Wellcome Trust that embryo research into mitochondrial disease will start at its new centre at Newcastle University. At the same time the government has launched a public consultation on whether to pass legislation to allow the 'three-parent' embryo technique to be used for medical treatment. [SPUC, 19 January]

Claim of rise in illegal abortions globally is dubious, says SPUC
A claim published in The Lancet medical journal that so-called 'unsafe' - usually illegal - abortions worldwide have risen by 5% is "dubious", says SPUC. The claim was made in a report by researchers from the Guttmacher Institute and the World Health Organsation (WHO). John Smeaton, SPUC director, commented: "The WHO routinely makes unsubstantiated claims about so-called 'unsafe' or illegal abortion. WHO is one of the world’s major pro-abortion bodies. The Guttmacher Institute is the research arm of the worldwide pro-abortion lobby. The report is pro-abortion propaganda, and should be dismissed as such." [SPUC, 19 January]

Midwives defend right to conscientious objection in Scottish court
Two midwives from Southern General Hospital in Glasgow are challenging the Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board over their right not to be involved in abortions in the hospital’s labour ward. SPUC is supporting the midwives' stance and is underwriting their legal costs. The case follows a lengthy grievance procedure that has failed to resolve the matter. [SPUC, 17 January]

Other stories:

Abortion
  • Baby-saving pro-life counsellors are under threat, so let's focus on defending them from all quarters [John Smeaton, 27 January]
Embryology
  • Skin cells turned directly into brain cells, claim US scientists [BBC, 31 January]
Euthanasia
  • Four patients die thirsty or starving every day in UK hospitals, suggest new stats [Mail, 22 January]
Sexual ethics
General
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