Brights News Feed

A 17-year-old woman from Ireland known only as Miss D had been told by the Health Service Executive (HSE) that she needed permission to travel abroad because she was seeking an abortion, which is against the law under almost all circumstances in Ireland, where many political and legal debates retain heavy Catholic influence. Miss D is four months pregnant and the foetus has anencephaly and will not survive long after birth. Even this does not constitute legal ground for abortion in Ireland.

Today the High Court ruled that the HSE’s decision that Miss D could not travel abroad for an abortion was entirely without merit and that no such law restricting her right to travel existed. Mr Justice Liam McKechnie also rebuked the HSE for trying to shoehorn her case into a model which they (falsely) believed necessary in order for her to travel abroad — they had advised her to claim that she was suicidal. The Justice praised Miss D’s moral stance of refusing to comply with the request and her courage in the face of her ad hoc travel ban.

Also see RTE News.

UPDATE (11 May): And Joan Bakewell has an astute comment piece in the Independent.

The lawyer for the Jehovah’s Witness parents of premature sextuplets (earlier reporting), two of which have since died, yesterday called the bringing of the children into state care an “unwarranted interference”. Two of the children have now received blood transfusions on doctors’ advice, under state mandate. The parents are taking the provincial government to court, claiming that the intervention violated their religious rights.

Read the rest of this entry »

Canada’s first sextuplets, born prematurely in Toronoto, face the additional health risk of their parents’ religion. The parents, both Jehovah’s Witnesses granted anonymity by hospital and media, have refused to allow blood transfusions for the six babies. Such transfusions are a standard medical practice in such circumstances, but citing archaic passages from the Bible to deny such procedures is the recommended practice for Jehovah’s Witnesses.

A similar case in 1995 set a legal precedent, by ensuring that the child’s right to life came before the parent’s religious wishes, and child protection laws in Canada should ensure that babies get appropriate treatment, via a court order if neccessary. However, neither Vancouver’s Child Welfare Department nor the hospital have applied for a court order.

One of the children is now reported to have died (Toronoto Star).

Read the rest of this entry »

British scientists have developed GM chickens which lay eggs containing proteins needed to make cancer-fighting drugs. The news was announced today by the Roslin Institute, Edinburgh, the same group which produced Dolly, the first cloned sheep, and has a flair for publicity.

Bacteria have long been used to harvest insulin in a similar way, but the more complicated cells of larger organisms are necessary to produce some more complex proteins. Other complex proteins have been made in sheep, goats, cows and rabbits. But turning chickens into “biofactories” for the production of anti-cancer eggs has taken 15 years’ work, lead by Dr Helen Sang.

Read the rest of this entry »