Baroness O'Loan's Conscientious Objection (Medical Activities) Bill (1),(2) passed its second reading (debate stage) in the House of Lords on 26 January 2018. It is now being reviewed by a Committee of the Whole House where amendments can be submitted and debated. If it then passes a third reading it...
Geoffrey Robinson MP wants to bring in an opt-out system for organ donation in England. His Organ Donation (Deemed Consent) Bill [1] is due its second reading (debate stage) on 23 February 2018. In 'deemed' (presumed) consent, a person, unless he or she specifically 'opts out', is assumed to have...
50 years; 8.8 million abortions; 550 every day; 3,800 every week; 16,000 each month; 200,000 every year. One in five pregnancies ends in abortion. One in three women has cooperated in the death of her son or daughter. One in three men has fathered, and abandoned, an aborted baby. Or...
Martin Luther did not do anything particularly unusual when he nailed 95 'debating points' to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. In those days it was the way to trigger debate in university towns and most such endeavours ran their course and were quickly forgotten. Martin Luther's...
Assisting or encouraging suicide remains a crime in Britain under the Suicide Act 1961, [1] but over the last 14 years there has been relentless pressure to change this. More than ten attempts to legalise assisted suicide (AS) have been made through British parliaments since 2003 — three by each...
In the Spring 2017 Triple Helix editorial 1 I reviewed the attempt by the pharmacists' regulator to force pharmacists to dispense drugs for what they consider to be unethical practices - such as emergency contraception, gender reassignment, abortion and assisted suicide. In December 2016 the pharmacy regulator,the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC),...
The rollercoaster journey of the last twelve months has left many UK citizens feeling dislocated and anxious about the future of our country. Political events - Brexit, Trump, a snap general election,a hung parliament, confidence and supply arrangements and the Queen's speech - have laid bare deep divisions between old and...
On Tuesday 27 June the British Medical Association (BMA) voted to support the decriminalisation of abortion throughout the UK. Delegates at the Annual Representative Meeting (ARM)in Bournemouth passed a six part motion by a two thirds majority. 1 1,500 doctors and medical students signed an open letter 2 urging the BMA...
Should pharmacists be forced to dispense drugs for what they consider to be unethical practices - like emergency contraception, gender reassignment, abortion and assisted suicide? Or should they have the right to exercise freedom of conscience by either referring to a colleague or opting out? The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), (1)...