The Government hopes to introduce legislation to allow surrogacy and other forms of assisted human reproduction (AHR) later this year, the High Court heard yesterday. However, The Irish Independent reports that in practice it may not be published until next year. In her submissions to the court on behalf of the State, Mary O’Toole SC...
A number of US Catholic bishops have said they would be willing to go to jail over a controversial health mandate that forces religious employers to put their employees in insurance schemes that among other things, provide free abortion-inducing drugs. The controversial Health and Human Services mandate was brought in under the Obama Administration’s healthcare...
Cohabiting couples who split up in the Canadian state of Quebec are not entitled to the same rights as legally married couples, when it comes to spousal support, the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled. By a 5-4 margin, the Court ruled that Quebec’s treatment of couples who are not legally married and who separate...
The Government’s Constitutional Convention will examine the issue of same sex marriage in April. The schedule of issues to be covered by the Convention on its website shows that the issue will receive a full day’s consideration at its next meeting on the weekend of the 13/14 April. The Convention met last week to discuss...
An IVF expert has told the High Court that the law should be changed so that it is presumed that the parents of a child born to a surrogate mother are “the commissioning couple”. Dr Mary Wingfield, a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist with the National Maternity Hospital, Holles Street, with a specialty in infertility, said...
A Scottish Catholic adoption charity faces de-registration — because it expects couples to be married for at least two years before adopting children. Scotland’s charity regulator admits the St Margaret’s adoption agency provides a valuable service – but says the marriage policy discriminates against gay couples, the Daily Telegraph reports. The Office of the Scottish...
Men and women who are married or in long-term relationships are more likely to survive to old age than ‘singletons’, according to new research. Scientists from the Duke University Medical Centre in the US have found that being married, or being in a permanent stable relationship, can lead to a longer life, the Daily...
The State has told the genetic parents of two young children born to a surrogate that Irish law will only recognise the birth mother as the legal mother because of the legal principal that “motherhood is always certain”. The couple have taken a case to the High Court arguing that the birth cert of their...
Poor communications between professionals plus procedures not being followed have been uncovered in cases of serious child abuse, sometimes resulting in death, a new Northern Ireland study suggests. Twenty four cases of abuse and neglect led to the death or serious injury of children known to social services in Northern Ireland between 2003 and 2008,...
French President François Hollande has agreed to receive the lay leaders of the massive protest against same-sex marriage held earlier this month. Announcing the decision on Monday, his office said the meeting would still not alter his plan to legalise gay marriage and adoption by June. After the march against same-sex marriage on January 13th...
