Category: News

Midwives in Scotland go to court over forced facilitation of abortion

Scotland’s largest health board, the National Health Service Greater Glasgow and Clyde, ordered two Catholic midwives to schedule and supervise other health care workers providing abortion.  The organization rejected a grievance from the midwives, claiming that the protection of conscience provision in the Abortion Act exempts objectors only from active and direct participation in an abortion.  It insists that it can lawfully order objectors to perform other duties necessary for the provision of abortions.  The two midwives have gone to the Court of Session in Edinburgh seeking an order overturning the employer’s decision. [BBC; The Telegraph]

 

Protection of conscience bill introduced in Missouri

Missouri Senate Bill 657 is drafted to prevent health care workers or institutions from being compelled to participate in any service or procedure to which they object for reasons of conscience.  It is intended to protect them against criminal, civil and administrative proceedings, and from discrimination for the exercise of their convictions.[Lifenews]

 

British government asserts that legalization of assisted suicide must be decided by parliament, not by government policy

In response to a question about the recommendation of a private commission chaired by Lord Falconer, the British Secretary of State for Justice has stated that  assisted suicide should not be legalized by policy, but by a decision of Parliament enacted in legislation. [Hansard]

 

Assisted suicide to be debated in British House of Commons

The Commons Backbench Business Committee has decided that the House of Commons in the United Kingdom will debate the assisted suicide guidelines published by the Director of Public Prosecutions in 2010.  The guidelines had the effect of leaving the regulation of assisted suicide in the hands of police and Crown Counsel, though the practice remained a criminal offence.  Conservative MP Richard Ottawa will ask the Commons to approve or reject the guidelines, and there is a chance that the debate could lead to legalization of the procedure in those cases excluded from prosecution by the guidelines. [BBC]

Mixed message from US government for victims of unethical medical research

From 1946 to 1948, American and Guatemalan physicians infected prostitutes and prisoners with syphilis without their knowledge or consent in order to test penicillin. The research was discovered by a Wellesley College professor in 2009, and lawyers for the victims filed a class-action lawsuit against the United States.  The Obama administration claims that the US is immune from such lawsuits, but has announced that it will spend $1 million to review new rules to protect medical research volunteers, $775,000 to fight sexually transmitted diseases in Guatemala, and will develop a system to compensate anyone harmed in medical research.  Lawyers for the Guatemalan victims say that the promised action is inconsistent with the claim of immunity. [Washington Post]