The parents of a 12-year-old boy who is in a coma have lost an attempt at the UK Supreme Court to block the withdrawal of his life-sustaining support.

Three judges on the Court of Appeal dismissed arguments from the family of Archie Battersbee that doctors at Barts Health Trust should be blocked from a breathing machine and other forms of life-support until a UN committee on disability rights had a chance to assess the case. The family may yet appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.

Archie’s mother, Hollie Dance, said: “We are having to battle over every decision with the hospital. There is nothing dignified in how we are being treated as a family in this situation. We do not understand what the rush is and why all of our wishes are being denied.”

Archie, from Southend, Essex, was found unconscious at his home with a ligature next to his head on April 7 after taking part in what his parents suspected was an online challenge. He suffered brain damage and has never regained consciousness. A mechanical ventilator is helping to keep him alive.

In a blow to pro-life hopes, the voters of Kansas have rejected a constitutional amendment that would have given authority to the state legislature to make abortion law without being constrained by a radically pro-abortion ruling adopted by a state court in 2019.

That decision by the Kansas State Supreme Court had found that a section of the Kansas Constitution Bill of Rights, dating from 1859, referring to “equal and inalienable natural rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” included a right to abortion. The Court further ruled that any restriction on abortion, to be constitutional, would have to be subject to an even higher standard than that demanded by the radical Roe v Wade abortion regime.

That resulted in even modest restrictions to abortion in Kansas being struck down.

Monday’s vote would have given authority to the State Legislature to overrule the State Court’s ‘strict scrutiny’ standard for abortion and make laws in the area as it saw fit.

While no legislative bill was waiting to be enacted, pro-choice activists claimed the State Government might ban abortion entirely, rather than merely restrict the existing permissive regime.

With 95% of ballots counted, the amendment was being rejected by a 58.8 to 41.2pc margin.

Appeasing a group of radical pro-abortion campaigners, rather than following Garda advice, drove last week’s proposal for exclusion zones, according to the Pro-Life Campaign.

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly presented the so-called ‘Safe Access Zones’ legislative proposal to Cabinet last Tuesday to ban peaceful pro-life protests close to abortion facilities.

The Pro-Life Campaign said the move was a wholly disproportionate response to the risk that a tiny number of people may at some point in the future engage in harassing behaviour near a facility where abortions are performed.

They added: “Were such incidents to occur, the authorities already have wide-ranging powers to deal with the situation under existing public order laws. Senior members of An Garda Síochána have repeatedly made this point clear to the Minister for Health, yet he and his government colleagues persist in pressing ahead with their regressive and draconian proposal, for no other reason than to appease a group of radical pro-abortion campaigners who have lobbied non-stop for such a law”.

“Minister Donnelly acknowledged in the Seanad as recently as 10th February that introducing such a law ‘pushes up against civil liberties’. He also openly admitted that he was ignoring the advice of An Garda Síochána and instead taking guidance on the matter from radical pro-abortion groups like Together for Safety”.

Among other things, their COVID Tracking Survey measures current life satisfaction across different demographic brackets, namely those who are married or unmarried crossed with those with or without children.

In a post by the Institute of Family Studies, Professor Christos A. Makridis, says the data shows those who are not married and have no children have the least level of current life satisfaction, and, notably, their life satisfaction never recovers even two years into COVID-19 by the end of 2021.

Moreover, the proportion of people who are thriving at a given point in time shows those who are married with children have higher rates of flourishing.

Regarding rates of loneliness. The unmarried are substantially more likely to feel lonely, ranging between 30-40 percent. In contrast, married Americans have much lower rates of loneliness, around 20 percent.

The only dedicated transgender clinic for children in the UK is to be shut down by the NHS after a review found it is “not safe”. Over 200 Irish children have been sent there by the HSE at tax-payers’ expense. Senator Sharon Keoghan has raised the matter in the Seanad.

The Tavistock clinic has prescribed puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to children prior to surgical removal of body parts such as breasts in some cases.

The decision to shutter the clinic is a response to the interim Cass Review, which warned that medics in the Tavistock had felt “under pressure to adopt an unquestioning affirmative approach” to gender identity rather than going through the normal process of clinic assessment with young people.

Dr Hilary Cass, the consultant paediatrician who is leading the independent review, found earlier this year that the clinic as the only provider of gender identity services for young people in England was “not a safe or viable long-term option”.

NHS England have also committed to follow Dr Cass’s recommendation that they carry out “rapid” research on the use of puberty blockers by young people after it was noted there is currently “insufficient evidence” on their impact.

Proposed changes to implementing America’s Affordable Care Act are “a violation of religious freedom and bad medicine,” according to US bishops.

Chief among their concerns are regulations that would mandate healthcare workers to perform transgender surgeries and require health insurance providers to cover the procedures. They also fear that the Department of Health and Human Services will force healthcare workers to perform abortions, or risk their jobs.

“Catholic health care ministries serve everyone, no matter their race, sex, belief system, or any other characteristics,” said the USCCB chairmen in a statement this week. “The same excellent care will be provided in a Catholic hospital to all patients, including patients who identify as transgender, whether it be for a broken bone, or for cancer, but we cannot do what our faith forbids. We object to harmful procedures, not to patients.”

“Sadly, Monday’s proposed regulations threaten our ability to carry out our healing ministries, and others’ to practice medicine,” they continued.

Politicians and campaigners have slammed the Government’s decision to press ahead with legislation to ban pro-life gatherings near healthcare facilities that offer abortion. The ban is so wide it could even include silent prayer vigils.

The exclusion zone bill intends banning “displaying any item, whether symbolic or otherwise, with the intended or likely effect of influencing a person’s decision to access termination of pregnancy services”.

Aontú Councillor Sarah O’Reilly said the proposals are “totally undemocratic”.

“Everyone should be permitted to peacefully protest and demonstrate against practices or human rights abuses which they disagree with. Abortion ends the life of defenceless human beings – it is only natural for people to wish to protest against such a thing”, she said.

Eilís Mulroy of the Pro Life Campaign said the Government’s plan “sets a very dangerous precedent for denying freedom of expression and the right to peacefully assemble in public areas. The proposal being put forward is a wholly disproportionate response to the risk that a tiny number of people may at some point in the future engage in harassing behaviour close to an abortion facility”.

Divorce applications hit record levels for the second year in succession in 2021, according to new data published by the Courts Service.

Some 5,856 divorce applications were filed last year, an 11pc increase on the previous record of 5,220 set in 2020.

While the vast majority of applications were made in the Circuit Court, 48 “big money” divorce cases, dealing with assets worth more than €3m, were filed in the High Court.

This figure is the highest since the Celtic Tiger years when a record 53 applications were made at High Court level in 2003. Back then the threshold for a High Court divorce case was just €1m.

The data is contained in the Court Service’s annual report for 2021.

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly is to seek approval to introduce legislation on so-called “Safe Access Zones”.

The laws propose buffer zones of 100 metres around any healthcare facilities that can provide or administer abortion, and not just those that do so.

This will, in effect, see the introduction of exclusion zones around all hospitals, GP practices and Wellwoman or Irish family Planning Association services.

The laws would prohibit, within these zones, any activity that is “intended to, or may reasonably have the effect of, influencing the decision of a person in relation to availing of or providing services relating to termination of pregnancy”.

A graduated system of penalties is proposed, starting with a warning from gardaí.

Some offences would be prosecuted summarily and more serous offences could be indictable before a judge and jury, with penalties including a jail sentence.

It is hoped the legislation can begin the process of pre-legislative scrutiny in September and can be introduced before the end of the year.

Attorneys general from 17 US states are asking Google to provide assurances that the search giant isn’t suppressing results for pro-life crisis pregnancy centers and replacing them with results for abortion clinics.

The letter, part of a campaign spearheaded by Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, asks Google to resist a June 17 call from Democratic lawmakers to “limit the appearance of pro-life clinics” in search results. The legislators had written to Alphabet chief executive officer Sundar Pichai about “disturbing” reports of Google’s search results for “abortion” and “abortion pill” directing people to crisis pregnancy centers, which attempt to steer women away from abortions.