John Wyatt writes:

In our democratic society we have the inestimable privilege of making our voice heard in the public arena and with legislators. As a Fellowship we can play a strategic role, and our aim is to provide thoughtful and clear written resources for students and doctors and authoritative submissions to offi cial bodies. CMF members are urged to write to MPs and members of Select Committees to support Christian values in their deliberations.

Lord Joffe’s Patient (Assisted Dying) Bill has been reintroduced into the House of Lords as the Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill. It has passed a second reading, and a Select Committee, chaired by Lord MacKay, has already met and will shortly be calling for evidence. The Mental Capacity Bill, dealing with advance directives, proxy decision-making and research in individuals with learning disabilities has now had its fi rst reading and may very soon become law. The Gender Recognition Bill, which seeks to protect the rights of transsexuals, now only requires the Queen’s signature to become law.

Abortion has been constantly in the news of late. The judicial review of the highprofi le case involving late termination for cleft palate is now on hold as the West Mercia police have fi nally agreed to investigate. A Channel 4 documentary on abortion, My Foetus, watched by a huge late night audience, caused huge controversy and debate. The BMA has passed a motion calling for babies surviving abortion to be given proper neonatal care and a new high-resolution ultrasound scanning technique has shown babies in the womb in more detail than ever before. All this has led to calls for revision of the abortion laws.

CMF has recently made offi cial submissions to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee on Human Reproductive Technologies and to the Department of Health consultation Choosing Health? Both are easily available from the CMF website.

The CMF Files continue to have wide distribution amongst medical students and sixth-formers in the UK and increasingly internationally. The latest on Speciesism is included in this mailing. Our next two fi les will on Neonatal ethics and Autonomy. The Chinese translation of fi les 1-24 is now available both on the internet at www.doctorluke.org and on CDROM, and is being made into a book. In addition to material at a popular level, the Study Group is aiming to encourage the submission of scholarly papers on ethical topics to international medical journals.