A major new study on same sex parenting has generated a great deal of online debate, particularly in the US where it was carried out, but it has also spilled over to the UK. Some of the headlines suggest that this new research ‘proves’ that […]
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Why does it now take stories like this to prick our consciences on abortion?
Few people in Britain now raise an eyebrow over the issue of abortion and I was struck by two casual references to it this week in relation to euthanasia. BMJ Editor, Fiona Godlee, in her controversial article calling for the BMA and other medical bodies […]
How many women really died from abortions prior to the Abortion Act?
A common argument from the pro-choice lobby is that legalising abortion in 1968 saved thousands of women who would have otherwise died from back-street abortions. Before 1968, it is contended, women with unwanted pregnancies who did not want to have their babies had no choice […]
Three parent embryos for mitochondrial disease – more media hype than real hope
The BBC reports this morning that a controversial fertility treatment which creates embryos from two women and one man to prevent life-threatening disorders is ethical. Children born through ‘three-person IVF’ would contain some genetic material from three people. The UK’s Nuffield Council on Bioethics has […]
New genetic tests and difficult questions facing expectant parents
A front page article in the Daily Telegraph today describes how researchers have been able to map in great detail the genetic code of an unborn baby at 18 weeks gestation. Taking a blood sample from the mother and a swab of saliva from the […]