A number of ministry and church leaders believe a cautious approach to same-sex marriage is needed so as not to alienate those outside the church. Father Neil Vaney, an Auckland Roman Catholic moral theologian, said the secular media and various people were “pushing” the same sex issue. He said the Church should “show great compassion” Read more
Statistics New Zealand says 15,863 abortions were performed last year, the lowest level since 1999. Family Planning says 4000 implants have been inserted this year alone compared with 200 hundred last year. Auckland Hospital clinical director of gynaecology Dr Mahesh Harilall believes the implants are the main cause of an almost 30% decrease in terminations Read more
Two government studies released by Canada’s Justice Department in 2006 recommended the decriminalisation of polygamy, with one arguing that the move was justified by the need to attract more skilled Muslim immigrants. Family First NZ is calling for the National, Labour and Green parties to state where they stand on the issue of redefining marriage Read more
Gay rights activists in Suva are angry at Fijian police for canceling a gay pride march. The police reportedly said they were unaware that the march had been organised to advocate gay rights until just before it was scheduled to begin. But Oceania Pride founder Jasmine Kaur has told the Australia Network she properly notified police about Read more
Is it oppression or liberation? Eugenics or social responsibility? The New Zealand Government’s proposal to make free long term reversible contraception available to beneficiaries and their daughters has created a tidal wave of comment and has seen groups that do not normally see eye to eye agreeing with each other. In its submission to the Read more
TV3 says 413,400 viewers aged five or older watched the first episode of GC, a reality show about a group of young Maori on the Gold Coast. It was watched by 42 per cent of Maori watching television It out-rated 3News and Campbell Live and became a trending topic world wide on Twitter, but attracted Read more
A British ethics group has launched a debate on the ethical dilemmas posed by new technologies that tap into the brain and could bring super-human strength, highly enhanced concentration or thought-controlled weaponry. With the prospect of future conflicts between armies controlling weapons with their minds, the Nuffield Council on Bioethics launched a consultation on Thursday Read more
A recently published article argues that since abortion is largely accepted even for reasons that do not have anything to do with the fetus’ health, after-birth abortion’ (killing a newborn) should be permissible in all the cases where abortion is, including cases where the newborn is not disabled because: 1. Both fetuses and newborns do Read more
A leading British medical journal has published an article calling for the introduction of infanticide for social and medical reasons.
The article in the Journal of Medical Ethics, entitled “After-birth abortion: why should the baby live?” states in its abstract: “After-birth abortion (killing a newborn) should be permissible in all cases where abortion is, including cases where the newborn is not disabled.”
The article, written by Alberto Giubilini of the University of Milan and Francesca Minerva of Melbourne University, argues that “foetuses and newborns do not have the same moral status as actual persons” and consequently a law which permits abortion for certain reasons should permit infanticide on the same grounds.
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