A young man in the American state of New York has been given a life sentence for murdering his girlfriend after she refused his demands to procure an abortion. Under the terms of his sentence, handed down by the state Supreme Court, Christian Ferdinand, 22, is to spend 25 years-to-life behind bars for the brutal...
Some 650 newborn infants are euthanised in The Netherlands every year, it has emerged. According to the Royal Dutch Medical Association (KNMG), despite current legal parameters around euthanasia, it is now accepted practice for a doctor to terminate the life of a newborn where that doctor identifies suffering on the part of the infant or...
All sides of opinion must be heard ahead of May’s referendum on same-sex marriage, Archbishop Eamon Martin has said. Debate should be free, open and unhindered, the Catholic Primate of all Ireland told The Tablet. He said he was calling for a debate “free from insult or injury or hurt to any person whether they...
A couple who say they were put under pressure to abort their “non-viable” unborn son have celebrated his first birthday. Jett Morris was born prematurely at 25 weeks after surviving for five weeks in his mother’s womb after her waters broke early. It’s thought he will not suffer any great complications despite having two small...
Bishop John Keenan of the diocese of Paisley in Scotland has condemned his nation’s “culture of death” after two Catholic midwives lost a conscience case in the Scottish Supreme Court. Reacting to the court’s rejection of the previously upheld right of midwives to opt out of any stage of an abortion procedure, Bishop Keenan described...
Health Minister Leo Varadkar has been attacked by the Pro-Life Campaign after he criticised Ireland’s abortion law as too restrictive and expressed support for the repeal of the Constitutional protection for unborn children known as the ‘Eighth Amendment’. Minister Varadkar said yesterday that he believes the Eighth Amendment has a “chilling effect” on doctors and that...
A symbolic motion in favour of legalising assisted suicide has been defeated in a vote in the Welsh Assembly. Twelve Assembly Members (AMs) voted in favour, while 21 voted against and 20 abstained. While the Welsh assembly does not have the power to change the legislation on assisted suicide, the motion, tabled by Plaid Cymru...
The leader of a western French region has described as “grotesque” an order to remove a Nativity crib from his town hall. Following a complaint by a group called the Federation of Freethinkers against a traditional crib at the town hall in La Roche-sur-Yon in the Vendée region, a local court ruled that the display...
The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland has defended its decision to uphold complaints of bias on the issue of same-sex marriage after journalist Una Mullally accused the BAI of stifling debate on the issue. BAI Chief Executive Michael O’Keeffe wrote in the Irish Times that Mullally’s representation of the BAI’s regulations was “demonstrably false”, and said that the...
“You can have no idea how much I feel for those who, as I speak, are suffering for their faith in such terrible circumstances.” This was the message conveyed by England’s Prince Charles yesterday as he addressed a gathering of Iraqi Chaldean Christians in London. The Prince of Wales attended a special service at the...
