An assisted suicide Bill was not put to a vote on Friday in the House of Lords following mass opposition from Peers with over 60 members speaking against it.

The debate, which went for over seven hours, followed a very large amount of media coverage and opinion pieces from MPs, Peers, doctors, and other experts that have appeared over the last two weeks highlighting major issues with introducing assisted suicide. This has included nearly 1,700 medical professionals coming out in opposition to the Bill and an investigation by the Daily Mail into the assisted suicide process overseas, revealing that the use of fatal drugs to end life can be a harrowing experience over hours or days for the person involved.

Among the opposition, Lord David Alton said the same unanswered questions about the risks to vulnerable people remain.

“In truth, what are described as safeguards are simply a wish list for what its sponsors hope would happen in an ideal world”.

“It would be profoundly irresponsible to enact legislation without knowing how many putative safeguards might work. Asking us to do otherwise is like asking Parliament to sign a blank cheque.”

The US Supreme Court will allow a Texas law banning most abortions to remain in effect while the Court waits to take up a legal challenge to it next month.

In a novel legal mechanism, the ‘heartbeat law’ allows private citizens to sue abortion providers who perform the procedure after a foetal heartbeat can be detected, which usually occurs about six weeks into a pregnancy.

On Friday, the justices said they will decide in November whether the Biden administration has the right to sue Texas over the law. It is very unusual for the court to review a law so quickly.

The case will focus not on the abortion ban itself but on how the law was crafted and whether it can be legally challenged.

The administration argued in a brief filed earlier on Friday that if the law remains in effect “no decision of this Court is safe. States need not comply with, or even challenge, precedents with which they disagree. They may simply outlaw the exercise of whatever rights they disfavor.”

The former prime minister joined the Chief Rabbi, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the most senior Roman Catholic cardinal in Britain in opposing the private member’s bill, which is due to be debated for a second time in the House of Lords.

Writing for The Times Brown, said that the focus of the medical profession should be in alleviating suffering, and that the “cold, bureaucratic directives” of the bill could change the way we view doctors and nurses.

Mike Kane, a Labour Member of Parliament, is seeking to add the amendment to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill.

The Guardian newspaper quoted a spokesperson for Kane, who is Catholic, as saying that the “Amess amendment” would protect the right of Catholic priests and other ministers of religion to pray alongside the dying.

Earlier, a Catholic bishop called for greater recognition of the Last Rites as an “emergency service” in the wake of the killing.

Bishop Mark Davies of Shrewsbury, western England, said: “Every believing Catholic desires to hear Christ’s words of pardon and absolution for the last time; to be strengthened by the grace of anointing; accompanied by the assurance of the Church’s prayer and whenever possible to receive Holy Communion.”

“This is something well understood in hospitals and care homes, yet the events following the murderous assault on Sir David Amess suggest this is not always comprehended in emergency situations.”

“I hope a better understanding of the eternal significance of the hour of death for Christians and the Church’s ministry as an ‘emergency service’ may result from this terrible tragedy.”

A Kansas City-area Baptist megachurch has reached a $150,000 settlement with the county over coronavirus restrictions, with the church claiming that the county Government treated them more harshly than secular institutions when it came to COVID protocols.

Abundant Life Baptist Church, which has locations in Lee’s Summit and Blue Springs, Missouri, filed a lawsuit against Jackson County over a year ago, arguing, as places of worship in other states have, that the county’s coronavirus restrictions treated places of worship more harshly than secular institutions such as retail stores.

Under the terms of the settlement, Jackson County vowed that in exchange for the church dropping the lawsuit, it would ensure that future enforcement measures would not impose stricter requirements on religious organizations than their secular counterparts, the Christian Post reported.

There’s been a call to rethink aspects of the Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2021, several groups have told an Oireachtas committee.

Key among them is the need to provide a solution for those people whose birth certificates contain false information about the identity of their biological parents.

Every time a driving licence is applied for, a passport presented, or Garda vetting is carried out, politicians heard, illegal adoptees are knowingly breaking the law without wishing to.

Lisa Kiernan, from the “In it Together” campaign, said her mother was not simply illegally adopted: “She was bought, sold and trafficked”.

Another person, Chris Wallace, said the use of DNA is critical in both verifying the information held in files and vital in proving identity.

“So in addition to making counselling available to all, the State needs to provide access to qualified genealogists to work with us to enable us to find our identity.”

Ms Kiernan said campaigners would “beg” for a DNA database to be included in the Bill.

“Many of our group have only recently discovered they are not who they thought they were,” she said.

Alice McEvoy, who was forced to give up a child for adoption told the committee that the term “birth mother” was offensive and should not be used in any legislation, but the term “mother” would be most appropriate.

Two Irish women have become one of the first same-sex couples in Ireland to be recognised as legal parents of their children, after a five year campaign.

CEO of ‘Equality for Children’, Ranae von Meding appeared on Wednesday in a Dublin court where her legal wife Audrey Rooney was recognised as a parent to their two daughters Ava (5) and Arya (2). One partner provided the egg while a male donor provided the sperm, and the other partner had the resulting embryo implanted in her womb for gestation.

The father’s name does not appear on the birth cert. Many donor-conceived people go looking for their biological parents in later life.

Oxford University has said it supports a right to freedom of expression and therefore has condemned pro-abortion militants who attacked a pro-life stall during freshers’ week when new students join the university.

The attack happened earlier in the month. Pro-life students were left ‘frightened’ and ‘intimidated’ after their stall was destroyed.

Militants tore down posters advertising the Oxford Students for Life society and binned pamphlets and booklets last week.

The President of the pro-life society, Anna Fleischer, said a young woman working on the stall was left feeling ‘scared, frightened and nervous,’ following the incident.

An Oxford University spokesman said: ‘The University supports the right of all our students and student groups to express views of all persuasions within the law.

‘We therefore condemn last week’s protest against the Oxford Students for Life stall at the Freshers’ Fair, which was an attempt to deny the right of expression to others.

‘We have a robust freedom of speech policy which states ‘Within the bounds set by law, all voices or views which any member of our community considers relevant should be given the chance of a hearing.’

A revised reopening plan has been unveiled by Ministers which will see all limits on numbers at religious services, weddings and funerals to be lifted, although the retention of some public health measures will continue until at least February 2022.

Religious ceremonies will now be allowed to proceed without any limits on capacity, but social distancing will still apply.

The Government had hoped to fully lift the vast majority of Covid-19 restrictions from October 22nd but the recent surge in cases has seen these plans amended. Instead, many restrictions will remain in place.

A Covid-19 vaccine certificate will still be required for indoor hospitality and events, while the use of face masks and social distancing will remain in place until 2022.

A call has been made for a referendum on information rights and privacy for children who have been separated from their parents and families.

TDs and senators on the Oireachtas Children’s Committee heard a call from the Adoption Loss/Natural Parents Network of Ireland for a referendum on the right to information being more important than privacy, for children who were separated through adoption, fostering or residential care settings.

The committee is currently undergoing pre-legislative scrutiny of the Birth Information and Tracing Bill, which would see a right to access birth certificates, birth and early life information for people who have questions in relation to their origins or identity, and also all people who were adopted or boarded out.