A judge at Belfast’s High Court has reserved judgement in a case aimed at extending abortion provision in Northern Ireland. Taken by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC), the case comes in the wake of a submission to the Northern Ireland Assembly of a consultation document compiled by the Department of Justice on the...
Medical staff in Sweden have been denied conscientious objection rights on life matters following a decision from the European Committee of Social Rights. The committee had been asked by the European Federation of Catholic Family Associations (FAFCE) in 2013 to adjudicate on the lack of rights for medical practitioners in the country who do not want to...
Pro-life lobby groups and NGOs are calling on European legislators to “denounce and end” the practices of late abortion and ‘neonatal infanticide’ in Europe where a baby is left to die after a failed abortion. Ahead of the forthcoming session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) – this June 22-26 – the...
The Catholic Bishops of the United States have spoken out strongly in defence of traditional marriage ahead of the October Synod on Marriage in Rome. During their annual spring general assembly, the prelates made marriage a central focus of their discussions and responded warmly to the call from conference president Archbishop Joseph Kurtz to “be...
Girls under the age of consent in Britain are to be supplied the morning-after pill for the first time. Following a change in licencing decided by the European Medicines Agency, the EllaOne pill, which causes early-stage abortion, is to be made available to all females of reproductive age. Morning-after pills were previously only available to...
A leading Jewish academic in Britain has expressed his dismay at the persecution aimed at Christians there for their opposition to gay marriage. Writing in The Jewish Chronicle in the wake of the judgement handed down against Ashers Bakery in Belfast in the so-called ‘gay cake case’, Professor Geoffrey Alderman states: “Over the past year I...
Mexico’s Supreme Court has extended the availability of same-sex marriage nationwide following a major ruling of the country’s constitution. The court ruled: “Any state law which considers that the purpose of marriage is procreation and/or that defines it as being celebrated between one man and one woman, is unconstitutional,” the judicial paper issued after the ruling read....
The European Parliament is calling on the World Health Organisation (WHO) to remove gender identity issues from its list of medical disorders. As part of the Parliament’s strategy towards defending ‘gender diversity’ in the years 2016-2020, MEPs debated the ‘EU Strategy for equality between women and men post-2015’ report which was compiled by the EU’s...
British Prime Minister David Cameron has voiced his personal opposition to euthanasia during parliamentary questions on the subject. As the British Parliament gears up for a September debate on ‘assisted suicide’, Mr Cameron said: “I don’t support the assisted dying proposals. I don’t support euthanasia,” and added, “I know there are imperfections and problems with the...
Nearly 2% of all people who die in Belgium are euthanised without consent, a new report has found. According to the report, entitled ‘First do no harm: intentionally shortening lives of patients without their explicit request in Belgium’, 1.7% of all Belgian deaths are as a result of doctors euthanising patients without prior consent of...
