Morning-after pills don’t cut teen pregnancy rates
Morning-after pills don’t cut teen pregnancy according to a new study due to be published in the Journal…
CMF members blog from Haiti
Over the last few weeks, nine CMF members have been working in Haiti, as part of a Samaritan's Purse…
Euthanasia bills fall at first hurdle
Last November I reported on the overwhelming defeat in the Scottish Parliament of Margo Macdonald’s…
The ‘ultrasound’ Jesus reminds us of the meaning of the incarnation
The creators of the 2010 ‘Christmas Starts With Christ' campaign say that its purpose is to bring attention…
How common is abortion to save the life of the mother?
Ireland’s ban on abortion was upheld this week by the European Court of Human Rights in a case brought…
A new exhibition touring the United States is highlighting lessons to be learned from the Nazi doctors
Most when remembering the holocaust will think of six million Jews but apparently this was only the final…
Two letters to the Times regarding Lord Falconer’s Commission on Assisted Dying
I have had two letters regarding Lord Falconer's Commission on Assisted Dying published on the Times…
Former Lord Chancellor misrepresents law on assisted suicide in national newspaper
Yesterday the Care Not Killing Alliance wrote to Lord Falconer, the former Lord Chancellor (pictured),…
ICMDA HIV Initiative 2010 Dignity and Right to Health Awards
The joint winners of the 2010 Dignity and Right to Health award are Dr Gisela Schneider from Germany…
More knowledge of fetal development leads to new US laws making late abortion illegal
In April this year the US state of Nebraska legislature signed off a bill that could weaken further the…
Chile’s president says country’s respect for life mandated great efforts to save lives of Chilean miners
I see that 26 of the rescued Chilean miners have just been welcomed to Manchester United by football…
New study confirms that making morning-after pill free without prescription increases sexually transmitted infections and fails to reduce pregnancy rates
Half of all pregnancies in the United States are unintended. One might therefore assume that making the morning-after pill (MAP) more widely accessible would cut the unplanned pregnancy rate. Not so. A new recent US study is the first to estimate the impact of making the morning-after pill available over the counter without prescription on abortions and […]
Why do Government and fertility organisations show no interest in the health of egg donors?
The pressure to harvest women’s eggs is not only increasing, it is also taking different directions. No longer just for reproductive purposes, women’s eggs are urgently needed for research and for treatment, most recently for germline therapies (to create three parent babies). However it is not easy to obtain large numbers of eggs. The […]
In ‘Modern Families’ mother and father are no longer necessary
‘Modern Families: Parents and Children in New Family Forms’, a new book by Professor Susan Golombok from Cambridge University, has recently received a great deal of media publicity. It brings together 35 years of research on parenting and child development in ‘new family forms’ including lesbian mother families, gay father families, families headed by single […]
Changes to NHS charges for missionaries
British doctors working overseas with mission agencies, humanitarian organisations and development charities may soon be required to pay 150% of the normal cost of any secondary health care they receive from the NHS. The new NHS (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations 2015 will come into force on 6 April 2015, as part of an […]
‘Cohabitation Can Be Hazardous to Your Health’, says American College of Paediatricians
The American College of Paediatricians is a national medical association of licensed physicians and healthcare professionals who specialize in the care of infants, children, and adolescents. The mission of the College is to enable all children to reach their optimal physical and emotional health and well-being. They issued this press release on 23 March. With its position […]
Human dignity and the code
The best nursing care comes through creativity and innovation, adapting care to the needs of the individual patient, rather than cramming each person into a ‘cookie cutter care plan’.  But there is more than a hint of nanny-state micromanagement in new nursing guidelines that came into effect this week. The new NMC Code came into […]
Time is not money: learning to value relationships
Life as a missionary doctor certainly has its unique challenges, and one of those is trying to fit into and understand different cultures. Today, I find myself in the strange situation of knowing where I will be every day during June and July, while I am visiting the UK, but not knowing what I will […]
Fast tracking of Lord Saatchi’s new medical treatments bill stopped in its tracks
Lord Saatchi has been campaigning for a new law since his wife, novelist Josephine Hart, died from a form of ovarian cancer in 2011. He introduced to the House of Lords a proposed new law, the Medical Innovation Bill, (or the ‘Saatchi Bill’ as it has become known) primarily to allow the responsible use of […]
Lord Carey is putting his faith in the wrong place: ‘three parent’ embryos will not end great suffering
Former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey has decided to make public his views on the creation of three parent embryos. Or, more specifically, to make public his views on anyone who has the temerity to oppose their creation. These new, treatments will, he assures us, end great suffering and the scientists behind it are trustworthy, […]
Suicide – oh no, assisted suicide – oh yes!
On 19 January, Nick Clegg called for a ‘zero suicides’ target among people suffering from mental illnesses. Almost 4,700 people committed suicide in UK in 2013, at least 90% of whom were thought to be struggling with mental health issues, particularly depressive or substance abuse disorders. The results of a programme in Detroit US have […]
Egg donation for research: an urgent call for volunteers!
Tucked away in all the media coverage of the three parent embryo debate, and on the same day of the vote in Parliament, was a news article from a local North-East paper, the ChronicleLive with an urgent request: ‘Egg donors needed to help with pioneering Newcastle medical technique’ And a new advert for donors states: […]
It’s raining men: the cost of 34 million more males than females in China
Just as the UK debates the need for a new law to prevent abortion based on gender, the Chinese Government has announced its latest population statistics. In amongst the data is the remarkable admission by the Chinese health authorities that the gender imbalance among newborns is ‘the most serious and prolonged’ in the world. The […]