Earlier today, Sarah Catt was jailed for 8 years for inducing the termination of her own pregnancy at 39 weeks’ gestation. The transcript of the comments of Mr Justice Cooke, sentencing, is available here. I don’t want for this to get bogged down in questions of the moral rights and wrongs of abortion, at whatever […]
Category: Life and Death
How Not to Respond to the Nicklinson Verdict
Unsurprisingly, the ruling handed down last week in respect of Tony Nicklinson and “Martin” has generated a lot of comment. A lot of that comment has disagreed with the ruling. David Allen Green, the Staggers‘ legal correspondent and also known as the blogger Jack of Kent, tweeted that it was a “dreadful court decision… depriving […]
NIcklinson and “Martin” Lose their Cases
The ruling, and a summary, are available here. I wouldn’t want to say that I told you so… but I did. Twice. And I can’t help but to wonder if this case should ever have come to court. Sympathetic as I am to the moral arguments in favour of assisted dying, whether those arguments can be […]
Oh, and since we’re talking about assisted dying…
… read this from Current Oncology – “Pereira’s Attack on Legalizing Euthanasia or Assisted Suicide: Smoke and Mirrors” – if you haven’t already. (via the Bioethics International FB group… and a million others.) […]
Canadian Ban on Assisted Suicide “Unconstitutional”
A Court in British Columbia has ruled that the law against assisted suicide (AS) in Canada cannot be reconciled with the country’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms – notably item 7 – Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of the person and the right not to be deprived thereof except in accordance with […]
Well, Consider my Jaw Dropped.
I know it’s not long since I last posted about the Christian Medical Fellowship’s blog, and I would ordinarily leave it a bit longer… but I’m about to go off on one. Forgive me. I’ve had a hard week marking exam scripts, and I’m tired and stressed and cranky, and this is just… well… Look: […]
IVF and Birth Defects: Is there a Moral Problem?
It was reported a couple of weeks ago that researchers had found a link between certain forms of assisted conception and an increased risk of birth defects. The paper, published in the NEJM, suggested that ICSI (intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection) correlated with defets in just about 10% of births. The base rate is about 5.8%, rising […]
How Abortion Law Works in Texas
Remember a little while ago there was a rash of proposals in the US that’d force women to see a sonogram of the foetus, or to listen to detailed descriptions of it, before having an abortion? Yeah: them. Well, via Ophelia, here’s an account of what really happens. Halfway through my pregnancy, I learned that […]
Unlocking the Right to Die?
It’s just been reported that Tony Nicklinson has won the right to have his right to die case heard before the courts. This is the result of a hearing in which the Ministry of Justice’s contention was that any such case would potentially re-write the murder laws, and that this is a matter for Parliament, […]
Some Responses to Giubilini and Minerva
I did mention last week that I’d post links to sites that mentioned Giubilini and Minerva’s paper as they crossed my radar; but it turned out very quickly that there’d be no way to keep up. And, to be frank, a lot of the blogosphere’s response has been fairly scattergun outrage rather than dispassionate engagement […]