LIFE Lines

You may recall that this time last year LIFE was urging supporters to lobby the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice, concerning its proposals to allow what they euphemistically call "post-conception services", i.e. abortion providers, to advertise on television. A (not exhaustive) list of reasons to be wary of the proposal can be found here.

Far, far too much ink has been spilt over the various allegations surrounding John Terry. However it was interesting to see the differences between the situation of the former England captain and an American sporting idol of comparable stature: Tim Tebow, American football quarterback and Heismann Trophy winner (apparently that's a big deal).

A leading Swiss condom manufacturer marketing extra small condoms aimed at 12-year-old boys in Switzerland, has said that marketing the product in the UK would be a ‘top priority’ given our high teenage pregnancy rate.

This is the blatant exploitation of children to make money. It’s mindboggling that family planning groups in Switzerland campaigned to have these condoms made.

An American woman named Angie Jackson has publicised her medical abortion on Twitter and YouTube.

LIFE spokeswoman Michaela Aston commented:

In the last 12 months several new studies have appeared in learned medical journals around the world confirming that induced abortion is a significant risk factor for breast cancer.

One, from Turkey, reported that abortion increases the risk of subsequent female breast cancer (now the commonest form of the disease) by 60 per cent.

Another, from the USA, put the figure at 40 per cent. More alarmingly, it reported that the breast cancer caused by abortion is particularly aggressive and treatment-resistant.

Once again the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) has refused to answer the following question put to it by LIFE; in view of the mounting evidence for the damage that induced abortion can do to women’s minds and bodies, does the College still believe that a doctor may carry out an abortion on the grounds that continuance of the pregnancy involved a risk to the mental of physical health of the woman greater than if the pregnancy were terminated? This is the grounds on which 95% of abortions are done.

Dominic Lawson, the former national newspaper editor, is an articulate and well-informed critic of assisted suicide and euthanasia. As the father of a daughter with Down's Syndrome, he is particularly aware of the danger posed to the disabled, elderly and vulnerable by any change to the law. In this brilliant article, he provides a devastating critique of the most recent pro-euthanasia advocacy campaign.

Professor John Keown is a world-renowned British bioethicist, a qualified barrister and distinguished philospher and ethicist who has published widely on many aspects of euthanasia. He current teaches at Georgetown University in the USA, and his work has been cited by both the US Supreme Court and the British Court of Appeal. He writes in today's Daily Telegraph about why we must not relax the law on assisted suicide.

Gordon Brown has a powerfully argued piece in today's Telegraph arguing that assisted suicide is the wrong solution to severe suffering. Like LIFE, he believes that improved hospice and palliative care is the answer.

The mother of a very sick child says some important and moving things about suffering, life and meaning, while journalist and writer Dominic Lawson asks "Who are we to decide that a dependent life is a pointless life?"