Dr Stevens based his observations on reports in the media and medical journals. One comment by Pieter Admiraal, a leading figure in Dutch euthanasia, sums up his colleagues' comments: "You will never get accustomed to killing somebody. We are not trained to kill. With euthanasia, your nightmare comes true." ~ PCCEF website, Apr 10
British children are being aborted in record numbers for relatively minor conditions, according to recent statistics, confirming fears that more and more parents want only "perfect babies". In the UK, abortions can be performed up to birth if a child has a "serious handicap", a rubbery provision which does not exist in other countries. It was intended to spare women from the trauma of giving birth to babies who were likely to die in their infancy, but it is now being used for conditions like club foot and cleft palate.
According to the London Times, between 1996 and 2004, 20 babies were aborted in advanced pregnancy because of club foot and another four because they had webbed fingers or an extra digit. All these condition are easily corrected. One doctor in the north of England discovered that an abortion had been performed in his hospital because a child was missing a hand. "The father did not want the pregnancy to proceed because of his perception that the child would not be able to do all the usual things like sport," he said.
The problem is even more acute with Down's syndrome, according to the London Telegraph. Since 2003, the National Health Service has offered a screening service to all 760,000 women in the UK who fall pregnant. As a result, 62% of Down's syndrome children are detected in the womb and 92% of these are aborted. This is a case of "overt eugenics", says Nuala Scarisbrick, of the lobby group Life. "There are human rights for everybody unless you are disabled in some way."
Furthermore, the incidence of Down's syndrome is rising, because the number of women who have children in their 40 has doubled over the last ten years. Abortions for the condition have reached record levels. The Down's Syndrome Association says that despite the fact that great progress has been made in prenatal medicine, many doctors are still ignorant of what life is like for handicapped children and their families. ~ London Telegraph, May 21; London Sunday Times, May 28
IVF RISK OF PREGNANCY COMPLICATION
Norwegian researchers say that there is a five-fold increase in risk of a dangerous complication of pregnancy in women who have conceived a child through IVF. In a study of 845,300 pregnancies they found that the risk of placenta praevia, a condition in which the placenta covers part or all of the cervix, blocking a baby's passage into the birth canal, rose from about 3 in 1,000 for normal pregnancies to 16 in 1,000 for IVF pregnancies. And for women who had two pregnancies, one natural and one using reproductive technology, the risk rose three-fold, from 7 in 1,000 to 20 in 1,000.
The cause of the increased risk for the potentially fatal condition is not clear. IVF may trigger contractions which lead to embryos implanting lower down the uterus than in natural conceptions. Or doctors may position the embryo lower down in order to improve implantation rates. The researchers, from St Olav's University Hospital in Trondheim, suggest that IVF clinics should record the position of every embryo they implant. ~ BBC, May 24
SOMETHING SPECIAL FOR FATHER'S DAY
Gay activist and accredited lifestyle coach Paul Van Reyk has been featured on Australian TV as a sort of stud for single women and lesbians. More than 20 years ago he began his progenitive career by fathering a child for a single woman whom he married, but only to give the child legal protection. It was, in part, a political statement. "It seemed wrong to me that gay men and woman were excluded from having children," he says.
Then other friends sought his help and now Mr Van Reyk has had six children by five different mothers. He may even have another half dozen children, but he is not sure because he agreed not to inquire about whether these women had successfully conceived. Although he is not involved in his children's lives on a day-to-day basis, he feels comfortable with his role. He even celebrates Father's Day rather like a polygamous patriarch presiding over his brood.
The casualness of his sexual engagements has at least one drawback, the possibility of unwitting incest. His first child Mary even jokes with his second, Raj, that he should be careful about kissing a possible sibling. ~ ABC Australian Story, May 29
IN BRIEF: Korea; IVF twins
KOREA: Despite the Hwang debacle, the South Korean government is still determined to ensure that it becomes one of the world's top three powerhouses in stem cell biotechnology by 2015. This week it signed off on a plan to spend US$454 million on stem cell research. This will cover both adult and embryonic stem cells, along with strengthening ethical standards, said an official at the Ministry of Science and Technology. ~ Korea Times, May 29
IVF TWINS: A British couple has had their second IVF twin 16 years after the birth of the first. The embryos for Jane and Alan Davis were created in 1989 and Emma was born in that year. The couple tried to have another child unsuccessfully several times. Finally, in 2003 Jane gave birth to another girl, Niamh, who had been in a freezer for 16 years before being implanted. ~ icSurryOnline, May 24
Scientists working in the new field of synthetic biology have yielded to public pressure and deferred adopting a self-regulating code of conduct. Synthetic biology, which aims to engineer cells to make useful devices, is highly controversial because of its potential for creating bioweapons and environmental risks. A conference in Berkeley, California, last week featured a draft of guidelines for self-regulation. However, on the eve of the meeting, 35 groups, including Greenpeace International and GeneWatch UK issued a counterproposal calling on scientists to participate in public debate. "Scientists creating new life forms cannot be allowed to act as judge and jury," said Sue Mayer, director of GeneWatch.
In recent years scientists have been tumbling over each other to announce the discovery of disease-causing genes for breast cancer, colon cancer, Huntington's, bubble boy disease and so on. Once detected, disease-bearing embryos or foetuses can be treated or, more often, destroyed. Now researchers in Scotland claim to have found a "poverty gene" which causes people from deprived areas to age rapidly, be unhealthy and shirk work. They suspect that a hyperactive immune system floods the brain with chemicals which suppress a desire for self-advancement.