The new CMF Public Policy Committee (PPC) first met in September with Trevor Stammers as chairman. CMF has played an important and increasing role in making submissions to government and other official bodies, commenting in the Christian and secular media and working behind the scenes through the BMA, in the Royal Colleges and in Parliament. The PPC has decided to concentrate on four major areas – focusing on those where the Christian voice is saying something new and distinctive:

• Issues at the beginning of life (abortion, infertility, cloning, stem cells, PGD)
• Issues at the end of life (euthanasia, PAS, withdrawal of treatment, resuscitation)
• Sexual health (sex education, STIs, ABC, teenage pregnancy and abortion, contraception)
• Developing world issues (HIV/AIDS, brain drain, malaria, TB, MDGs)

As highlighted in the editorial in CMF News the major current focus is euthanasia and by the time you are reading this it is probable that Lord Joffe’s new bill to legalise physician assisted suicide will be working its way through the House of Lords. Two other major consultations close in late November:

• Good Medical Practice (General Medical Council)
• Review of the Human Fertilization and Embryology Act (Department of Health)

Please do pray for those formulating responses on behalf of CMF.

A new campaign under the title ‘alive and kicking’ (see www.aliveandkickingcampaign.org) has been brought into being this autumn by an alliance of faith and prolife groups building on the growing public disquiet about late abortion fuelled by the Joanna Jepson case, improving survival rates of neonates and Prof Stuart Campbell’s highly publicised 4D ultrasounds of babies in the womb. The issue of late abortion gets more detailed treatment in Triple Helix this month, along with a discussion of moves to report to the GMC doctors who object to being involved in abortion referral procedures. The related issue of life-prolonging (non-treatment) decisions in neonates was the subject of a multi-faith consultation by the Nuffield Council in which CMF took part. It was remarkable to see the amount of agreement amongst those around the table; with those of all faiths having much the same concerns that the best possible treatment be made more widely available for these weakest and most vulnerable of human beings.

The issue of licenses for production of ‘three-parent’ embryos for the treatment of miotochondrial diseases and the production of the UK’s first embryos through parthenogenesis are a reminder that advances in the field of embryology will always run ahead of discussion of the ethics.

Please pray for all those who are called to write and comment on these issues in the public square.