Doctors at Marie Stopes clinics in Britain are approving thousands of women they have never met for abortions every year. According to an investigation undertaken by The Daily Mail newspaper, “less than a year after an inspection by the healthcare watchdog found that many abortion approvals are based on only a one-line summary of what a woman tells a call centre worker who has no medical training, [the] investigation revealed that the telephone discussions can be as short as 22 seconds”. An undercover reporter who attended a clinic stated that staff there altered the reason she gave for her abortion – “I just don’t want the baby” – to fit requirements for termination demanded by the Abortion Act. “Although doctors are not legally required to meet a woman before signing off their abortion, Department of Health guidance says it is ‘good practice’,” the Mail explained. “And doctors must be able to show they have signed off the abortion after forming an opinion ‘in good faith’ that the legal grounds for termination have been met.”

The US Supreme Court has refused to hear a major transgender rights case and referred the matter back to a lower court. Centred on the demand of school student Gavin Grimm, who self-identifies as male, to access male toilet and changing facilities at school, the case was brought to the Supreme Court for it to rule on the Obama administration’s  2016 guidelines that insisted transgender students had the right of access. However, since the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case, the guidelines have been withdrawn. Thus the court ruled that the original Appeals court should again examine the case locally. Kerri Kupec, a lawyer with Alliance Defending Freedom, the Christian advocacy group, welcomed the ruling. “The first duty of school districts is to protect the bodily privacy rights of all of the students who attend their schools and to respect the rights of parents who understandably don’t want their children exposed in intimate changing areas like locker rooms and showers,” she said.

Britain should celebrate the role Christianity plays in the country and Christians must feel free to talk about their faith, Prime Minister Theresa May has stressed. Mrs May made her comments during a reception at Downing Street, telling guests “We have a very strong tradition in this country of religious tolerance and freedom of speech, and our Christian heritage is something we can all be proud of. We must continue to ensure that people feel able to speak about their faith, and that absolutely includes their faith in Christ.” The Prime Minister went on to praise the work of Churches for “millions in our country at some of the most difficult moments in their lives”. She added that, on the issue of persecution of Christians in other parts of the world, she viewed this as an area of cooperation between her government and Churches and hopes “to take further measures as a government to support this…It is hard to comprehend that today people are still being attacked and murdered because of their Christianity.”

An Australian MP has withdrawn two abortion Bills he tabled before the Queensland parliament following a mass campaign against them. Independent MP Rob Pyne had hoped to prompt legislation removing abortion from the criminal code, the creation of a 50-metre exclusion zone for protestors around abortion clinics, and forcing medical staff to provide abortions regardless of conscientious objections. However, for the past 10 months, legislators and members of the public have fought the passage of the Bills through a flurry of submissions to committee hearings and petitions which gained 56,604 signatures. It is reported that 83% of submissions during the committee stage were against the Bills. Their withdrawal has been hailed as “a great victory for life and decency” by the Cherish Life group, which added that “Mr Pyne was used by the pro-abortion lobby, who gave him disastrous advice”.

A bus covered with anti-gender ideology slogans in Spain has been seized by police. An investigation is now underway into the group, HazteOir (‘Make yourself heard’), which commissioned the spraying of the bus with the message: “Boys have penises, girls have vaginas. Don’t let them fool you. If you’re born a man, you’re a man, if you’re a woman, you will continue to be so.” The group had hoped to use the bus to bring its message on a tour of Spanish cities, but police moved to seize the bus, citing potential ‘LGBT phobia’. The investigation now underway is seeking evidence that the bus’s message constitutes a hate crime.

Britain needs to learn to accommodate those who hold traditional views on marriage and gender, a former equality chief has said. Trevor Phillips, who led the country’s Equality and Human Rights Commission said Britain risks “failing the acid test of a democracy” in how it mistreats those who believe in marriage as between one man and one woman and those who oppose gender ideology. Phillips made his comments during a television documentary, ‘Has Political Correctness Gone Mad?’, which heard from various individuals who spoke anecdotally of how voicing traditional beliefs in Britain now put people at risk of abuse. Phillips, who stepped down from his equality role in 2012 has acknowledged that he has begun to question his own views over the years.

Christians are fleeing the Sinai region of Egypt following the latest murders targeting the community, and just days after so-called Islamic State (ISIS) called for the slaughter of all Christians there. According to reports from the region, within days of a February 19 online video calling on supporters of ISIS to target Christians in Sinai, three Christians were murdered. One of those killed was burned alive. Over a single weekend at least 75 families arrived in the city of Ismailia on the Suez Canal, with many reporting they had received death threats on their mobile phones. The Christians of Sinai have endured a wave of murders since the start of 2017 – the latest bringing to six the number of dead.

US President Donald Trump has revoked an order issued by his predecessor requiring schools to permit students to use the toilets and changing room of the sex they self-identify as. The contentious requirement was already the subject of a court injunction following a backlash by authorities in 13 states, but the move by the Trump administration now puts an end to the federal order. It is now up to individual states or schools to decide their rules. Opponents of the original guidelines have welcomed Mr Trump’s move. A member of the Students and Parents for Privacy group, Vicki Wilson said: “Our daughters should never be forced to share private, intimate spaces with male classmates, even if those young men are struggling with these issues. It violates their right to privacy and harms their dignity.” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton – on behalf of one of the 13 states taking legal action on the guidelines – said: “Our fight over the bathroom directive has always been about former President Obama’s attempt to bypass Congress and rewrite the laws to fit his political agenda for radical social change.”