Posts Tagged ‘government’
National Day of Prayer About Abortion
I’m going to be facilitating a day of prayer on October 27th, the anniversary of the passing of the Abortion Act in the United Kingdom. The day is organised nationally by Image is a Christian charity (registered charity number 1088573) concerned about abortion, euthanasia, human embryo experimentation and human cloning. They are evangelical and non-denominational, believing that every person is made in the image of God, with a life of value from conception to death.
They have a confidential helpline, open seven days a week, which provides help and support during pregnancy, after abortion and in cases of miscarriage. They also train counsellors to work in these areas, and offer help in setting up pregnancy centres. They seek to encourage churches and individual Christians to become involved in life issues. They provide speakers for Christian and non-Christian groups and conferences. They are particularly concerned to see young people reached with sex education within a moral framework. They publish a range of leaflets on abortion and teenage sexuality. They encourage regular prayer for life issues, publish a bi-monthly prayer letter, and organise a National Day of Prayer about abortion on October 27 each year.
The exact time and venue hasn’t yet been decided so I have started a mailing list so that I can email you when I have further details. You can subscribe to this mailing list using the form at the top right hand of my other web site.
I believe this is an important issue for all Christians to be concerned and pray for so please keep in touch and I will let you know more details nearer the time. If this is a new issue or you can’t quite understand it please do add a comment to this post and I’ll try to reply.
Northern Ireland: Pro-life group in guidance success
(Source: The Christian Institute web site)
Pro-lifers have won a significant victory in Northern Ireland with the withdrawal of controversial abortion guidelines.
SPUC, the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, was set to have a judicial review on the issue in September but now the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety has removed its interim guidance completely.
Liam Gibson, from SPUC in Northern Ireland, said the group is “very pleased” with the outcome.
Battle
It is the latest development in a long-running legal battle over the issue.
Last year, the High Court ruled that the advice on abortion was “misleading” and ordered the document to be completely withdrawn.
At the time, the department of health asked the court if two contentious sections could be reconsidered rather than withdrawing the full guidance, but this was rejected by the judge.
Ignored
However, the Department reissued the same guidance with the two sections removed.
SPUC claimed that the Department was ignoring the court order, but the Department refused to give way.
It was this impasse that looked to be heading towards a trial in the High Court until the Department caved in.
Objection
The Department has written to Jim Wells, chairman of the Northern Ireland Assembly’s Health Committee, to say that the interim guidance has been withdrawn and that there will be a public consultation on the issue.
Abortion is illegal in Northern Ireland unless the mother’s life is at risk.
SPUC’s Liam Gibson said: “When we challenged the original guidance in the High Court last year, the judge rejected a request from the Department that it should be allowed to withdraw only the sections on counselling and conscientious objection”.
Flawed
He continued: “Health officials simply ignored this ruling. They quickly republished the guidance with those sections left out. Otherwise the document was unchanged.
“Both the information given to women and the rights of medical personnel are central to clinical practice.
“We believe that any guidance which says nothing about these issues is fundamentally flawed, and should never have been published. The Department finally seems to have accepted that.
Agenda
“Until now, the health department has acted in a high-handed and belligerent manner regarding the guidance. The Department appeared determined to pursue its own agenda, rather than apply the law.”
Mr Gibson concluded: “We will be working closely with pro-life members of the Northern Ireland Assembly and its health committee to ensure that the Department’s consultation does not result in the rights of women, unborn children or the medical profession being undermined”.
Lords back free speech shield in ‘gay hate’ law
The Government has been defeated in the House of Lords over its attempt to repeal a free speech protection from a sexual orientation ‘hatred’ law. Peers voted by 186 to 133 to keep the protection in place. The matter will be passed back to the House of Commons where MPs voted for repeal.
The protection makes clear that criticising homosexual conduct or encouraging people to refrain from such conduct is not, in itself, a crime.
Whilst I have no intention of treating homosexual people with contempt and accept their right to freedom of speech I am glad that at least we all can maintain that right.
Forensic DNA boom stokes ethical fears
Scary story. Are we moving closer and closer to a full-blown Police State in the UK? It seems that the government is so obsessed with terrorism and crime that it will go to any lengths to get results.
To quote from the article: “..the case of British toddler Madeleine McCann, who went missing in Portugal, has raised questions about modern reliance on DNA evidence after theories multiplied based on the partial results from trace amounts of biological evidence. Alec Jeffreys, the genetics professor who invented DNA fingerprinting in 1984 and went on to help police crack the Pitchfork case, is justifiably proud of his discovery…..Yet he is worried, saying he fears society has failed to grasp the ethical issues of DNA collection, its potential for abuse and the limitations of genetic analysis.
“The legislation is lagging really rather seriously behind the use of the database,” he said. “I take the simple view that my genome is mine. Under some circumstances, I’ll allow the state limited access. But prying into my DNA …? I am wholly opposed to that.”
Yes, I am opposed to terrorism. I’ve lived in Northern Ireland for nearly 12 years so I’ve seen my share of it. But the simple question is this: “Does the end justify the means??”
See more of the story at http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/10/26/2070838.htm
Marriage is Healthy!! It’s Official.
Marriage beats all other living arrangements in terms of its benefits to adults and children, an official Government study has found.
Married adults were shown to be healthier and to live longer than cohabiting or single people, whether widowed or divorced, according to the Focus on Families survey by the Office of National Statistics.
See more at the Christian Institute web site.
But the question is: Will the Government take any notice of their own study, or will they choose to ignore it???Â
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