LIFE Lines

Perhaps because of the opportunities offered by the mass media, we seem to be more awash in fashionable nonsense than ever before. As the old saying has it, "a lie can be halfway round the world before the truth has got its boots on". What some evolutionary scientists have called memes spread quickly on the Internet, on 24-hour-news, on mobile phones and so on. Every day seems to bring forth another "fact" which everyone "knows" to be true that is actually totally false.

It is official; too much choice is harming us, or so says a report conducted by Bristol University and Confused.Com . The philosopher, David Velleman, would agree, though his problem isn’t that too much choice is crippling us by turning us into a nation of ‘indeciders’, but that the mere fact of having certain choices, even though they might not be chosen, is harmful in itself.

You’ve just sat down with your well-earned pint in hand. Silenced pictures of the 24 hour news channel flash by on the TV on the wall. Another severe car crash. A chap survives but is seriously injured. Paralysed and in a coma. Your friend pipes up, “Poor sod. If that were me, I’d prefer ‘em to let me die.”

One of the most striking characteristics of our era is our unassailable belief that we are better and more civilised than those who lived before us. No other age has been as enlightened, as clever, as wise, as good, as ours. We Know Better. The characteristic insult of our age is to be described as “old-fashioned” or “medieval”. Numerous people begin arguments with the tedious and meaningless assertion that “this is the twenty-first century...”

The US magazine Slate - which generally takes a liberal position on social issues - carries an extremely incisive and thoughtful piece piece on the pscyhological consequences of anonymous sperm donation for the children born as a result. This is an often-neglected aspect of the debate over embryo technology and assisted reproduction.

It is frequently suggested that opposition to legalised assisted suicide is the preserve of religious people, and that since all arguments against it are essentially religious, they can be rejected and ignored by those who do not have religious faith. This is untrue. Some of the most compelling and interesting arguments against assisted suicide come from atheists, secularists and humanists, who do not have any religious beliefs.

So now we know: over the last five years, an average of eighty children per year have been aborted following IVF treatment. This represents 1% of all children conceived by this method annually. The figure includes what is euphemistically called “selective reduction”, i.e. aborting one of the children in a multiple pregnancy.

Amidst the entirely justified protests at Marie Stopes' first advert on UK television, Marie Stopes themselves made a bold press release in support of the advertisement of their 'services'. Strangely enough, when a foreign dignitary visited Marie Stopes HQ in London, the abortion provider did not see fit to make a similar public gesture. I wonder why?

The attached document tells you what you can do to contact the ASA about their plans to allow abortion advertising on TV. The ASA won't accept complaints until after the ad has been shown, so you have a few days to draft your letters. This info sheet will be very helpful. Read, reflect and respond!

It has been reported in recent weeks that the number of mistakes made by fertility clinics has risen sharply. It would appear that clinics are becoming increasingly sloppy about best practice.

The Daily Telegraph reported the findings of a programme on BBC Radio 5Live.