Category: United States

New head of bioethics center says new technology raises moral questions

Crux

Charles Collins

When church leaders in the United States face new bioethical questions – such as those surrounding abortion, euthanasia, or gender identity – they often turn to the Philadelphia-based National Catholic Bioethics Center. . .

. . . It was announced this month that Dr. Joseph Meaney, the director of international outreach and expansion for Human Life International, will be taking over as the president of the NCBC.

Speaking to Crux, he said bioethics is “an almost exponentially growing field.” . . .

. . . He said the greatest challenges in the coming years will be “from gender ideology issues such as sex-change surgeries and drugs and also end of life issues, particularly assisted suicide and euthanasia.” . . .

. . .He told Crux there is “a very broad and concerted attack on conscience rights in many Western countries,” including over abortion and assisted suicide. Meaney said this doesn’t just affect doctors, but also nurses, midwives, and pharmacists.

What follows are excerpts of his conversation with Crux. [Full text]

Maine effectively legalizes assisted suicide

CNN Politics

Eli Watkins

Washington (CNN)Some terminally ill patients in Maine will have the legal option to pursue medically assisted suicide after Democratic Gov. Janet Mills approved a bill on Wednesday permitting it.

Once the new law takes effect, Maine will join seven other states and the District of Columbia in allowing medical aid in dying.

The legislation says mentally competent patients over age 18 with terminal diseases that, “within reasonable medical judgment, produce death within 6 months” can request life-ending medication. . . .[Full text]

American Medical Association: Call It ‘Physician-Assisted Suicide,’ Not ‘Aid-in-Dying’

CNS News

Patrick  Goodenough

CNSNews.com) – Advocates of assisted suicide are dismayed that the largest association of physicians in the U.S. has decided to continue using the term “physician-assisted suicide” rather than euphemisms such as “medical aid-in-dying.”

Meeting in Chicago on Monday, the American Medical Association, by a vote of 360-190, adopted a report by its Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs (CEJA) recommending that the term “physician-assisted suicide” continue to be used.

Significantly, the AMA also voted to reaffirm its Code of Medical Ethics’ current policy on assisted suicide – the view that allowing doctors to help patients to die “is fundamentally incompatible with the physician’s role as healer.” That vote was 392-162. . . [Full text]

Alabama governor signs law requiring chemical castration for some sex offender parolees

USA Today

Elinor Aspegren

Alabama’s governor signed into law legislation that requires some sexual offenders to be chemically castrated before being released on parole.

Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican, signed the bill Monday. It applies to sex offenders eligible for parole after being convicted of crimes involving children under 13. . . . [Full text]

Administration looking into bringing doctor to Guam to provide abortions

Pacific Daily News

Jasmine Stole Weiss

The administration is looking into recruiting a doctor to provide abortions here, said Jayne Flores, director of the Bureau of Women’s Affairs. 

Flores said she will be having a closed-door meeting with Department of Public Health and Social Services officials this week to address the issue.

They’ll meet “to talk about a plan to recruit a doctor,” Flores said. 

The meeting is in response to the fact that no abortions have been reported since Dr. William Freeman retired last year in May. For years, Guam had two abortion providers in Freeman and Dr. Edmund Griley. Both retired. 

No other doctor on island advertises that service. . . [Full text]