Archives: <span>News Roundup</span>

News Roundup

Catholic nursing home fined for refusing euthanasia

5th July 2016

A Catholic nursing home in Belgium has been fined by a court for refusing to offer residents euthanasia. The ruling stemmed from a case taken by the family of a resident who requested euthanasia under Belgian law in 2011, but was refused on the grounds of the home’s ethos. However, the court in Louvain ruled that that “the nursing home did not have the right to refuse euthanasia on the grounds of conscientious objection” and fined the home €6 in “moral damages”. While the fine was a tiny amount, the ruling is, however, of major significance for religious-backed institutions, which are now effectively debarred from conscientious objection to euthanasia.

Britain shows growing trend of abortion as birth control

5th July 2016

It has been reported that more women in Britain are using abortion as a form of birth control after figures showed that 4,905 women in 2015 had procured at least their fourth abortion. The figures were gained by a daily newspaper under the Freedom of Information Act and add to an earlier finding this year made by The Daily Telegraph that older women are turning in increasing numbers to abortion as an accepted method of birth control. Over the last decade in Britain, abortion rates have fallen in all age categories except for women in their 30s and 40s.

Independent Ministers continue to press for free vote on abortion

4th July 2016

Independent members of the Cabinet are continuing to press for a free vote on abortion. TDs are expected to vote this week on TD Mick Wallace’s Bill to allow for abortion on grounds of ‘fatal foetal abnormality’ even though the Attorney General has said the Bill is unconstitutional. But Independent TDs still insist that a free vote is necessary on the issue, with junior jobs minister John Halligan stating that anything less is “unacceptable”. A number of Independents have already signaled their backing for the Bill, arguing that there is nothing in the Programme for Government to prevent them in this.

British Olympics team to include two transgender athletes

4th July 2016

Two British transgender athletes are set to take part in this year’s Olympics, it has been reported. According to The Mail on Sunday, the pair, born male, have already represented Britain at a European championship sporting event, but their inclusion on the team for Rio is expected to cause controversy amid arguments over their biological advantage over competitors born as females. The inclusion of the two athletes arises from changes to International Olympic Committee guidelines which allow athletes to compete as their ‘preferred gender’ without having to undergo reassignment surgery.

Mexico rejects liberalisation of abortion law

4th July 2016

The Supreme Court in Mexico has ruled against legalising abortion in the country. In a three to one ruling, justices opted to maintain the current law that protects the unborn except in cases of rape or where there is a threat to the life of the mother. The justices further ruled that a proposal on the abortion issue should be drawn up for a national debate. Though abortion is legal in Mexico City up to three months, across the country a woman procuring an abortion can face criminal charges in 18 of the 31 states.

Catholic women who attend Mass less at risk of suicide – study

1st July 2016

Catholic women who regularly attend church services are five times less likely to commit suicide, a new study in the United States has shown. Led by Harvard researchers, the study looked at figures from 1996 to 2010 and found, that while suicides within a cohort of 89,708 women represented most categories, of 6,999 Catholic women who attend Mass at least once a week, there was not a single suicide. The study’s authors suggest that attendance at religious services is “a form of meaningful social participation” that buffers women against loneliness and isolation — both factors that are strongly implicated in depression and suicide. “Religion and spirituality may be an underappreciated resource that psychiatrists and clinicians could explore with their patients, as appropriate.”

Abortions lead murder 69 to 1 for Black Americans

1st July 2016

A black pastor in the United States has revealed that abortions on black Americans outstrip murder by a rate of 69 to one. Pastor Walter B Hove undertook his own research at a time when America is struggling over the homicide rate among black people, not least from police shootings. However, while the community is exercised by this, even forming a Black Lives Matter Movement, Hove charges that abortions are being virtually ignored. He provided figures for 2013 to show that while 6,217 black people were murdered that year, 429,000 black infants were aborted, a rate of 1,175 abortions per day.

Call to force religious migrant charities to offer abortion

1st July 2016

Religious-backed aid groups assisting migrants should be forced to provide contraception and abortion, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has said. In a legal case launched by the group with the Department of Health and Human Services, the ACLU argues that if aid groups receive government grants for their work, they should be compelled to offer a full range of reproductive health options. Lawyer for the ACLU, Brigitte Amiri, cited cases of pregnant girls coming into the care of Catholic charities who request abortions and must then be transferred. She argued that religious exemption on abortion allows charities to “to violate the law and impose their religious beliefs on these young women”. One legal expert has described the ACLU’s case as weak.

Government split on abortion vote

29th June 2016

Independent Ministers are refusing to oppose a Private Members’ Bill on abortion in a challenge to the Government’s stance on the issue. A meeting this week to finalise opposition to TD Mick Wallace’s Bill on abortion in cases of foetal abnormality adjourned after no consensus could be reached, with Independent members of Cabinet urging a free vote so as to allow them to abstain on the matter as an alternative to voting against the Government. Allowing Ministers to abstain on a vote proposed by the Government is highly unusual, but the Independents argue that the abortion Bill is not covered by the programme for Government.

Conscience rights on same-sex marriage removed in Mississippi

29th June 2016

A Bill protecting the conscience rights of county clerks in the US state of Mississippi on the issue of licensing same-sex marriages has been struck down by a federal judge. While gay rights activists have welcomed the ruling, others have objected to the compromising of religious freedom with the move. Mississippi’s Lieutenant Governor Tae Reeves said: “If this opinion by the federal court denies even one Mississippian of their fundamental right to practice their religion, then all Mississippians are denied their First Amendment rights. I hope the state’s attorneys will quickly appeal this decision to the 5th Circuit to protect the deeply held religious beliefs of all Mississippians.”