A student pro-life group has been reinstated on a Canadian campus after its status was removed for communicating “uncomfortable” views. Students for Life was banned from Brandon University in Manitoba by the Students’ Union and only reinstated after it commenced a legal action for the right to be heard on campus.  “As students of Brandon University, we must have the same right as every other fee-paying member of BUSU to participate fully in campus life”, said Students for Life President Catherine Dubois.  “Our club has been repeatedly censored and denied these opportunities offered to every other student. We are tired and frustrated with being treated in such a discriminatory manner.”

The Brandon University case is just one in a number of similar incidents in recent months which have seen pro-life bodies forced to seek legal backing for a right to be present on Canadian campuses.

Pro-life groups in Ireland have strongly criticised plans by a leading abortion provider in Britain to offer a helpline to women here seeking to use abortion pills. The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) says it will offer advice to women who have obtained pills online. In response, the pro-Life Campaign stated: “If BPAS were serious about helping women, they would work on providing alternatives to abortion, which ends the life of an unborn child and very often leaves a woman suffering serious trauma. This helpline is a further attempt by BPAS to ignore the unborn baby entirely and normalise a procedure which is life-ending, not life-saving.” Meanwhile, Northern Ireland’s Precious Life group said that abortion drugs were not healthcare. “Research has shown, time and time again, that these abortion drugs, mifepristone and misoprostol, also endanger women’s lives.”

Lawmakers in California have passed a Bill aimed at preventing undercover filming of abortion facility staff there. In the wake of the expose of abortion provider Planned Parenthood in a ‘body parts for sale’ scandal, an investigation resting on the use of secretly filmed footage, the state’s Senate passed the new legislation by 52-26 votes, making it a criminal offense to secretly record and distribute conversations with a healthcare officials, such as an abortion clinic worker. Offenders face a year in prison and a fine of $2,500. The new legislation will now be passed to Governor Jerry Brown for its final signing into law.

Over 180 same-sex marriages were registered in Ireland in the first three months of this year, latest figures reveal. According to the Central Statics Office, of 3,539 marriages conducted in the State in the first quarter of 2016, 186 were between same-sex couples. Many of these were converted Civil Partnerships.

LGBT activists in Spain are calling for the prosecutions of four Bishops who voiced objections to new legislation on LGBT rights and protections in the Madrid region. In a statement on the new ‘Law of Integral Protection against LGTBIphobia and Discrimination for Reasons of Orientation and Sexual Identity’, Bishops Juan Antonio Reig Pla, Joaquín María López, and Auxiliary Bishop José Rico Pavés warned that it “seeks to prohibit the public teaching of the Bible”. The statement was supported later by Bishop Demetrio Fernández, who said “gender ideology is an atomic bomb that seeks to destroy Catholic doctrine and the image of God in man and the image of God the Creator”. All four now face demands that they be prosecuted for hate speech in a Spanish court.

A major investigation of mass graves in Syria and Iraq by The Associated Press (AP) has uncovered the scale of killings by Islamic State (IS) of Christians and other minority groups. The agency claims to have found at least 72 mass graves already – with more set to be uncovered – which contain the remains of thousands of people summarily executed by the militant group since its emergence in 2014. The number of dead is estimated at anywhere between 5,200 to 15,000 so far, including women and children. Sinjar Mountain, where thousands of Yazidis sought shelter from the onward drive of IS is, says AP “dotted with graves”.

A Spanish priest who offered a blessing for a same-sex marriage has apologised after being reprimanded by his diocese. Fr José Garcia was brought to the attention of the Diocese of Segorbe-Castellón in Vallencia on July 30 when he conducted a blessing ceremony following the couple’s civil marriage. In a statement, the diocese said Fr Garcia’s action contradicted the teachings of the Catholic Church, adding that the priest “did not distinguish the welcoming and pastoral accompaniment of persons, on the one hand, from the apparent approval of a union that the Church cannot approve”. The diocese is now considering punitive measures against the priest, investigating whether or not “there exists in this case the necessary elements for the disciplinary measures established in the Code of Canon law.”

The number of babies with a cleft palate aborted in Britain has tripled in the last five years, according to latest figures. Despite the minor facial condition being completely treatable, it is thought increased access to tests diagnosing the condition in the womb is leading to a growing number of terminations. According to government figures, 30 infants were aborted over the last three years directly as a result of a cleft palate diagnosis. Reacting to the numbers, Fiona Bruce MP, chair of the All Party Parliamentary Pro-Life Group, said: “It is deeply disturbing if these figures reflect a worrying trend in society to disproportionately value the physically perfect and beautiful.” Meanwhile, the House of Lords’ peer, Lord Alton, said “Aborting a baby with a cleft palate should be unconscionable. For the law to allow this up to birth should be unthinkable.”

MPs in Britain are calling on the government to include a clear definition of ‘extremist behaviour’ in upcoming legislation to avoid religious communities being penalised. In a submission, the Home Affairs Committee has insisted that a “full explanation of what the Government is and is not seeking to achieve” must be offered to ease concerns among those holding conservative religious views who feel that extremist legislation will backfire and curb their rights to freedom of speech. The Committee, made up of MPs’ from all main political parties pointed out that current laws provide an “extensive legal framework for dealing with people who promote violence” and so far the government “has not been able to demonstrate that a significant gap in this framework exists”.