A tweet by the State-funded National Women’s Council which says abortion is “a normal part of reproductive journeys” has provoked a strong backlash online.

The post added: “This #March28, we join activists worldwide in launching the Global Day to Destigmatize Abortions”.

It features a cartoon representation of a woman saying the words “Abortions happen every day”.

“The glib slogan that ‘Abortions happen every day’ is true only in the same sense that crimes happen every day. As with the everyday occurrence of crimes, the everyday occurrence of abortions does nothing to make them morally defensible”.

Another user, John Carvill, said “This promotion by the NWCI is both perverse and sick. Its state funding should be removed”.

Another added: “Abortion is not reproduction.  It is the antithesis of reproduction.”

Festive lights saying ‘Happy Ramadan’ are on display in London’s West End over the Easter Weekend to mark the Muslim penitential season of Ramadan, prompting some local representatives to ask why Easter itself is not being marked in the same way in a traditionally Christian country.

Tory councillor, Paul Swaddle, offered full support to the Ramadan lights but questioned why a Ramadan display in the window of Westminster’s city hall offices had not yet been replaced by an Easter one in time for this weekend.

Tim Barnes, the Conservative candidate for Cities of London and Westminster also welcomed the Ramadan lights but added: “it’s critical that we are seen to be welcoming to all of our major communities and are even-handed in how we represent and promote major festivals and religious holidays.”

The Westminster City Council said that it “routinely supports” a wide range of other faith activities throughout the year including Christmas, Easter, Palm Sunday, Eid, Diwali and Hanukkah.

Christian Concern, a group which promotes Christian values, said that it planned in the future to put in a “number of applications” for decorations to celebrate Easter.

A society which has nothing more to offer people than ‘assisted dying’ has “really lost its way”, according to a Catholic Bishop. An Oireachtas committee has just recommended that Ireland permit assisted suicide and euthanasia.

Kevin Doran, Bishop of Elphin, spoke at the Chrism Mass in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Sligo on Wednesday.

He told the congregation that our care for the most vulnerable among us is “a measure of our humanity”.

“It is understandable that people facing chronic or terminal illness sometimes feel that they might be better off if they were dead. But a society which has nothing more to offer to people than to assist them in ending their own lives, has really lost its way. Through the time we spend with the sick, listening to them, providing essential care, sharing memories, and, perhaps, praying with them, that we continue the healing ministry of Jesus. In this way, we bear witness in action to the fact that there is no such thing as a life without value”, he said.

The number of adults being baptised in France in 2024 has significantly increased over previous years.

This year 7,135 adults will receive the sacrament of baptism at the Easter Vigil. This is a substantial 32 per cent increase on 2023 when 5,463 adults were baptised.

The figures confirm an ongoing trend of growth in the French Church. In 2023, the number of adult baptisms in France had increased by 21 per cent over the number in 2022, and by over 50 per cent compared to 2021, when 3,639 adults were baptised.

In the past twenty years, those requesting baptism in the Catholic Church as adults has more than doubled.

Moreover, the growth is not merely at the expense of baptisms at a younger age either, as the figures show that in 2024, the number of adolescents being baptised doubled compared to the year before. Adolescent baptisms in France have seen consistent growth over the course of the last five years.

Oregon’s doctor-assisted suicides jumped 21pc to 367 persons in 2023, with some patients vomiting up drugs and one who took six days to die in what critics call a ‘cruel or unusual punishment’.

The state’s annual report on its Death with Dignity Act (DWDA), showed that 560 people received prescriptions for deadly medications in 2023, and 367 ingested drugs and died from them — both sharp upticks from 2022.

Most often, DWDA recipients suffered from cancer (66 percent), followed by brain disease (11 percent) and heart disease (10 percent).

43 percent said they were concerned about becoming a burden on loved ones.

8 percent said they were ending their lives because of the costs of their treatment.

Most patients died within an hour of taking their drugs — typically a fatal cocktail of diazepam, morphine, phenobarbital, and other medicines.

But not all deaths were quick and easy.

Ten people faced complications, such as vomiting up their drugs or getting a burning sensation in their throats.

One patient took fully 137 hours — nearly six days — to die.

The level of reported sexually transmitted infections in Ireland increased by 31% last year, according to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre.

The largest increases were in gonorrhoea, which rose 68%, and chlamydia, which rose 25%.

Overall, the STI notification rate in 2023 increased to 452 per 100,000 population from 346 the year before.

The most common STIs reported in 2023 were chlamydia, with 13,711 notifications, and gonorrhoea with 6,824.

The groups most affected by STIs were young people aged from 15 to 24 years, and gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men.

According to the HSPC, 45% of all STIs notified in 2023 were in people aged less than 25 years of age.

In 15 to 19-year-old females, the STI notification rate increased by 61%, the chlamydia notification rate increased by 53% and the gonorrhoea notification rate increased by 175%.

A legislative amendment to give unborn babies with Down’s syndrome the same protection from abortion as babies without a disability has been proposed in the House of Commons.

The former GP, cabinet minister and defence secretary, Sir Liam Fox, tabled the amendment to the Government’s Criminal Justice Bill.

It has been signed by 40 MPs.

The general abortion time limit is set at 24 weeks, but for cases in which a baby is thought to have a disability, including Down’s syndrome, abortion is available up to birth. This amendment will equalise the time limit for babies with Down’s syndrome, meaning that it will be set at 24 weeks.

The amendment has cross-party support from MPs among the Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats, SNP and the DUP.

The most recent full-year abortion statistics, for the year ending 31 December 2021, show there were 859 abortions where a baby had Down’s syndrome in 2021, an increase of 24% from 2020.

The actual numbers are thought to be higher due to underreporting.

Japan’s plummeting birth rate has led a nappy manufacturer to stop making nappies for babies and instead ramp up production for adults, the company has said.

Oji Holdings will wrap up domestic output of infant nappies in September, after production dropped from a 2001 peak of around 700 million annually to 400 million today.

A spokesman said the demand for baby nappies “is decreasing because of factors including the falling birth rate.”

They will continue to be sold in Japan until stocks run out.

The number of births in Japan dropped to a new low in 2023, with more than twice as many deaths as new babies born.

The spokesman said Oji Holdings will boost production of the sanitary items for adults in the country, anticipating their use mainly in facilities like nursing homes.

A woman who had taken prescribed abortion pills later presented with a life-threatening ruptured ectopic pregnancy in Maternity Hospital Limerick, according to a report published in the Journal of the Irish Medical Organisation.

The authors said the practice of not providing an ultrasound in drug-induced abortion could lead to death where it was not understood that ectopic pregnancy was involved.

In response, Doctors for Life said that that previous warnings on the absence of a scan prior to prescribing abortion pills must now be heeded as a matter of urgency.

The case was written up in the March edition of the IMO’s Journal. The authors said that it provided insights into “a serious and life-threatening event, i.e., maternal collapse due to a ruptured EP [ectopic pregnancy] after a termination of pregnancy”.

They added: “It could have been prevented by an ultrasound for location of the pregnancy. Offering an ultrasound to confirm IUP to patients requesting abortifacients is not routine & this practice may result in masking signs and symptoms of EP in patients having abortion and result in mortality due to misdiagnosis and overlap in symptoms of EP and abortion”.

Simon Harris pledged the Government won’t ‘abandon’ the Hate Speech bill even as another Minister admitted it is unlikely to pass into law.

This comes as Sinn Fein announced their opposition to the bill and numerous backbench FF and FG deputies called for it to be withdrawn.

Minister Harris said the Programme for Government committed to the legislation, “for good reason,” while granting that there have been, “a number of legitimate questions raised” about it.

On the Tonight show, however, Minister of State Neale Richmond said that while it is possible the legislation could become law before the next election, “realistically, I think there is a review process under way… there’s an awful lot of amendments to review, and there’s an awful lot of people both in favour of it and against it who want that to be reflected upon …”

Presenter Ciara Doherty responded: “Its gone, Neale, I think what you’re saying but not explicit, the Hate Speech legislation is gone, isn’t it?”

“I think in its current format it would be very hard to see it progress through the Dail, but we are going back to reflect on it as Barry and others have asked us”, he replied.

FF TD Barry Cowen added: “I’m thinking of ‘going, going, gone’ and in its present format its going nowhere”.