The High Court in London has agreed to hear a challenge to the UKs abortion law.

The case claims the law discriminates against people with disabilities.

While abortion is legal up to 24 weeks, it is allowed up to birth where the baby suffers “from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped.”

Heidi Crowter, a 24-year-old woman with Down’s Syndrome, says the law is offensive and makes her cry. In Britain, 90pc of unborn babies found to have Down Syndrome are aborted.

“This case addresses a matter that is fundamentally offensive and discriminatory,” Paul Conrathe, the lawyer representing the women, said.

A leading palliative care doctor has denied that some people will suffer unending pain unless they can avail of assisted suicide.

Dr Twomey, who is a consultant in palliative medicine at Milford Hospice in Limerick and University Hospital Limerick, said a change in law would “irrevocably change” the doctor-patient relationship. “We feel that there is no role whatsoever for a medical practitioner of any kind, in any part of assisted suicide or dying, even if it is legislated for in this country. If society makes the decision that it wishes to legislate for this, then society will need to provide the service – it isn’t a role that should be part of normal healthcare.”

Restrictions on public worship can be justified “in situations of a sharp rise in the numbers contracting the Covid-19 virus” Catholic Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has said.

The restrictions, however, “should be limited to the shortest period necessary,” he said. Currently, under regulations from level 3 to level 5, public Masses and other religious services may not take place in Ireland, although places of worship can remain open for private prayer. An exception is made for weddings and funerals.

In 2018, the global level of government crackdowns on religion continued to climb, reaching an all-time high since Pew Research Center began tracking these trends in 2007.

The increase in restrictions – that is, laws, policies and actions by officials that impinge on religious beliefs and practices –  reflects a wide variety of events around the world, including a rise from 2017 to 2018 in the number of governments using force – such as detentions and physical abuse – to coerce religious groups.

As of 2018, most of the 56 countries with high or very high levels of government restrictions on religion are in the Asia-Pacific region (25 countries, or half of all countries in that region) or the Middle East-North Africa region (18 countries, or 90% of all countries in the region).

China continued to have the highest score on the Government Restrictions Index (GRI) out of all 198 countries and territories in the study, and in 2018 it reached a new peak in its score (9.3 out of 10).

The Chinese government restricts religion in a variety of ways, including banning entire religious groups (such as the Falun Gong movement and several Christian groups), prohibiting certain religious practices, raiding places of worship and detaining and torturing individuals. In 2018, the government continued a detention campaign against Uighurs, ethnic Kazakhs and other Muslims in Xinjiang province, holding at least 800,000 (and possibly up to 2 million) in detention facilities “designed to erase religious and ethnic identities,” according to the U.S. State Department.

In a statement they say the “Dying with Dignity” Bill that was recently approved by the Dail for committee stage was preceded by a “rushed and incomplete debate”.

The group have called instead for a “robust and balanced debate on the matter”.

The IHF believes the Bill, “is a seismic shift in legislative terms and its impact on all areas of society cannot be underestimated”.

“It should therefore receive the time it deserves to consider the rich and diverse evidence, views, opinions and anxieties of all the people of Ireland”.

The bill is due to be scrutinised in detail, and amendments considered, in the Oireachtas Justice Committee.

The findings are contained in research by the ESRI and HSE which analyses how young people receive information on sex and relationships.

It is based on data from Growing up in Ireland, a longitudinal study which interviewed teenagers at 13 and 17 years of age.

Many teens are not getting advice on sex from their parents, the report shows.

By age 13, 45 per cent of young people reported that they had discussed sex and relationship issues with their parents. By age 17, this proportion had increased to just under 60 per cent.

There was a gender divide in reports of ease of discussions with parents about sex.

Young women found it easier to talk to their mothers, while young men found it easier to talk to their fathers.

Young people who discuss sex and relationships with their parents are significantly more likely to go on to use contraception.

In contrast, those mainly reliant on their friends as a source of information on sex had lower levels of contraceptive use when they first had sex.

The US Supreme Court seems likely to side with a Catholic social services agency in a dispute with the city of Philadelphia over the agency’s wish to abide by Catholic teaching when placing children with foster parents.

During a hearing last week, Justice Brett Kavanaugh suggested there should be a way for Catholic Social Services to continue to work with foster families. While the case involves “very important rights” regarding freedom of religion and same-sex marriage, he said: “It seems when those rights come into conflict, all levels of government should be careful and should often, where possible and appropriate, look for ways to accommodate both interests in reasonable ways.”

Even liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor seemed to recognise the court was sympathetic to an accommodation. “If one wanted to find a compromise in this case, can you suggest one that wouldn’t do real damage to all the various lines of laws that have been implicated here,” she asked at one point.

An unlikely alliance of chapels, kirks, gurdwaras, humanists, secularists, artists, writers and journalists have united in condemnation of the Scottish government’s Hate Crime Bill.

The bill as drafted would empower police to seize “forfeited material” to “be disposed of in such manner as the court may direct”. The National Secular Society said in a submission to the Scottish Assembly’s Justice Committee that the “draconian and ultimately counterproductive” bill had “dangerously low thresholds for prosecution”.

The offence of possessing ‘inflammatory’ material could extend to the Bible and other religious texts, according to the Bishops Conference of Scotland, the Free Church of Scotland and the Evangelical Alliance, which represents 4,000 evangelical churches in the UK.

The Free Church, a Presbyterian denomination, said its critics “should be free to mock us, ridicule us and insult us”, adding that outspoken ministers would “need to have their lawyer on speed dial to check that their sermon each week does not fall foul of the offence of stirring up hatred”.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference said that priests could face prosecution for saying that “a man cannot become a woman”.

“The growth of what some describe as the cancel culture — hunting down those who disagree with prominent orthodoxies with the intention to expunge the non-compliant from public discourse and with callous disregard for their livelihoods is deeply concerning,” it said. “We risk becoming an intolerant, illiberal society.”

Paid parental leave, introduced to encourage greater gender equality, does not meet its policy objective, a Department of Public Expenditure spending review warns.

The relatively new scheme entitles both parents to two weeks’ paid leave in a child’s first year, paid at €245 a week from the Social Insurance Fund (SIF), known as parent’s benefit.

It was introduced in last year’s budget following an EU work-life balance directive to encourage better sharing of leave between parents and to address alleged under-representation of women in the labour market. It is in addition to 26 weeks’ paid maternity leave and two weeks’ paid paternity leave.

As most employers do not top up parent’s benefit, “it is possible to conclude that the scheme does not address the existing disparity in leave entitlements or the low uptake rate of paternity leave.

“As such it is unlikely to support families in the more equal sharing of care responsibilities or address women’s under-representation in the labour market,” says the report.

Businessman Declan Ganley has begun a constitutional challenge to the ban on attending Mass and other religious ceremonies which is part of phases 3-5 of the Government’s Covid-19 restrictions.

Mr Ganley argues that the measures preventing public worship are unconstitutional since Bunreacht na hÉireann enshrines the right to worship as a key part of religious freedom.

The matter came before Mr Justice Charles Meenan today who said the proposed challenge related to measures included as part of the Government’s Level 5 plan to combat the pandemic. Under the present law a cleric could be fined or even arrested for leaving his house to hold an act of public worship.

Those particular measures, the judge said, may expire on December 1st, which he said may render Mr Ganley’s action moot, or pointless. However, even if Level 5 comes to an end, public worship is still against public health advice in Levels 3 and 4.

The judge added that there was no likelihood of what is a complex case, if the State respondents choose to challenge it, being heard by the end of the month.

The judge, who directed that the application for permission to bring the challenge be heard on notice to the State, adjourned the matter to December 8th.