LATEST
Abortion law in Ireland under serious threat from new legislation
Ireland is one of the few developed countries in the world where abortion remains illegal under sections 58 and 59 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861. However this could change if proposed new legislation is passed through the Irish Parliament Despite the significance, and potential effect, of the proposed legislative changes under the Irish ‘Heads of Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill’, there has not been much news coverage of it in England, Scotland and Wales. There has, however, been a great deal of coverage on the ‘Savita’ case. And the two in fact are closely linked. Savita Halappanavar was an Indian woman who tragically died in Galway, Ireland from infection last October after allegedly being … [Read More...]
RECENT
Dilemmas, difficulties and hope – reproductive health in developing countries
Despite my determination a few years ago not to be a GP with a Women’s Health interest that’s exactly what I’ve found that I love! Having exhausted the UK Diplomas and Letters of Competence and with a long-standing interest in working in … [Read More...]
Lord Falconer is seeking to overturn the Hippocratic Oath and change 2,400 years of history
'I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody if asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect.' So reads the Hippocratic Oath, which until recently used to be taken by all graduating doctors. Hippocrates of Cos (c. 460 BC – c. … [Read More...]
Time lapse imaging of embryos – exciting breakthrough or just eugenics by another name?
Various media outlets (including The Times (£), The Telegraph, BBC, The Independent and The Guardian) have published articles reporting on how fertility specialists from Nottingham have developed a radical technique that will ‘dramatically … [Read More...]
Joy, sorrow and satisfaction – medical mission in Ecuador
My own personal journey to becoming a medical missionary began when I finished secondary school and went on a short-term mission team to Ecuador. While we ran a Bible club for slum children a five-year-old boy, Juan, came to our attention. He had a … [Read More...]
Embryonic stem cells from cloned human embryos – six reasons for caution
The newspapers are full today of the news that scientists in the US state of Oregon have produced embryonic stem cells (ESCs) using the same cloning technology (somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT)) that created Dolly the sheep. The original paper … [Read More...]
Featured
Christians: inherently generous?
New research shows that Christians are more generous than the general population when it comes to donation, but not just of money and time. Christians, especially evangelicals, are also more generous when it comes to donation of their blood and … [Read More...]
Speaking out for truth and justice – a Christian responsibility
Speaking out for truth and justice is just one of many responsibilities we have as Christians. But I suspect it is the one that we most willingly shirk, simply because it can be so costly. Being a Christian is costly in many ways. It is costly to … [Read More...]
Flesh and Blood – giving more than money
A campaign to mobilise churches to increase the number of blood and organ donors in the UK has been launched this week. The aim is to build on the Christian culture of giving and make blood and organ donation part of this. In other words, to … [Read More...]
Nurses to be trained to give compassionate care
Falling care standards have prompted a rallying call from the new Chief Nursing Officer. In an increasingly heated debate, she’s calling for nursing to recover its core values – particularly care, compassion, courage, commitment and … [Read More...]
Same sex parenting vs heterosexual parenting: research revisited
A controversial study on gay parenting published this summer generated such an outcry of protest on its findings and ad hominen attacks on the author, that it led, among other things, to an official investigation into the ethics of the study and … [Read More...]
