Tasmania decriminalises abortion
The legislature of Australia’s island state, Tasmania, has passed an law which relieves abortion doctors of fear of prosecution and stifles dissent by conscientious objectors...
UK nurses could be jailed for wilful neglect
The UK government has announced that all National Health Service employees - doctors, nurses, and even hospital managers - could face five years in jail...
“Frankenstein” organs proposed for human enhancement
But what about creating hybrid organs to enhance the functioning of the human body? Do arguments about chimeras still apply? Much ink has been spilt...
Should we allow prenatal testing for autism?
In a controversial move last week the West Australian Reproductive Technology Council authorised an IVF clinic to screen out potentially autistic embryos. In a controversial...
HFEA scraps single-embryo policy after court defeat
The UK’s fertility watchdog, the Human Fertility and Embryology Authority, has lost a significant court battle to limit the number of multiple births from IVF...
European convention on organ trafficking on the way
The Council of Europe, the leading organistion for human right in Europe, is drafting a convention to ban organ trafficking which could come into force...
Belgium’s “Pope of euthanasia”
One of the leading figures in the euthanasia debate is Belgian oncologist Wim Distelmans. Because of the language barrier, he is an unfamiliar figure in...
What the US needs is more voluntary sterilization for women
Voluntary sterilization has been legal since 1974 in the United States for women over 21. Why, then, is it so difficult for them to find...
Feeding the media beast
How should bioethicists engage with media? Gingerly, says Dr Syd Johnson, of Michigan Technological University, in an essay on the Impact Ethics blog. How should...
Two sceptical prophets
Hi there, By one of those strange quirks of fate, John F. Kennedy, Aldous Huxley, and C.S. Lewis and all died on November 22, 1963...
Bioethics anniversaries: Doctor Who
In a week in which the US mourns the 50th anniversary of the death of John F. Kennedy, Dr Who fans are celebrating the 50th...