UK doctors agree to gender abortions
Women are being granted abortions after telling doctors their baby is the ‘wrong sex’, a national newspaper undercover investigation has revealed. Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has reported the paper’s information to the Police and said carrying out an abortion on the grounds of gender alone is ‘morally repugnant’. The Chief Medical Officer is writing to all abortion clinics, NHS hospitals and Primary Care Trusts, to ‘remind them of their responsibilities and the requirements’ under abortion legislation. The Daily Telegraph’s investigation found three instances of doctors offering to arrange abortions after being told that the women did not want the baby because of its sex. In an editorial yesterday, the Telegraph said its investigation ‘raises a host of disturbing questions, adding ‘The investigation has also confirmed that abortion on demand, often dismissed as a myth, is in fact routine.’ It said that ‘the UK is developing an unenviable reputation for the commercialisation of abortion.
Pray: for an end to this unacceptable practice and for a firm response by the authorities. (Zec.8:5)
More: http://www.christian.org.uk/news/video-uk-doctors-agree-to-gender-abortions/
Churches struggling to cope with growing housing needs
Churches are struggling to cope with the rise in demand for homeless and housing services. Housing Justice says that churches in its network have reported an increase in the number of people turning to them for help with housing. New church shelter schemes that opened up this winter in Milton Keynes and Birmingham were filled to capacity. Newly published Government statistics show that rough sleeping has risen in England by 23% in the last year. Figures from the Department of Communities and Local Government state that 2,181 people are sleeping rough on any one night, up from a total of 1,768 in last year's count. The figure is based on street counts carried out by 53 local authorities between October and November of last year, and estimates made in partnership with local homelessness agencies. Housing Justice director Alison Gelder said: ‘This increase is sadly part of a familiar picture of chronic and growing housing need in society.'
Pray: for God to enable the Church to meet this challenge and for the Government to ensure the most vulnerable are adequately supported. (Ps.140:12)
UN: drug gangs controlling parts of British cities
Parts of British cities are becoming no-go areas where drugs gangs are effectively in control, a United Nations drugs chief said this week. Professor Hamid Ghodse, president of the UN's International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), said there was 'a vicious cycle of social exclusion and drugs problems and fractured communities' in cities such as Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester. The development of 'no-go areas’ was being fuelled by threats such as social inequality, migration and celebrities normalising drug abuse, he warned. ‘In many societies around the world, whether developed or developing, there are communities within the societies which develop which ones become no-go areas. 'Drug traffickers, organised crime, drug users, they take over. Examples are in Brazil, Mexico, in the United States, in the UK, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester.’ The INCB's annual report for 2011 found persistent social inequality, migration, emerging cultures of excess and a shift in traditional values were some of the key threats to social cohesion.
Pray: for authorities to be enabled to take charge of these ‘no-go’ areas and transform these communities. (Ro.12:2)
MP calls for reform of UK abortion law
Following an undercover investigation into abortion by the Daily Telegraph, Nadine Dorries MP has called for a reform of UK abortion law. The investigation uncovered the practice of gender selective abortions in a number of clinics, and has cast a wider question over how or even whether abortion laws are being followed. Ms Dorries has now suggested that the Abortion Act 1967 needs changing as it is ‘a badly drafted piece of legislation’. Under the Act, abortion is illegal unless it falls within certain exemptions. Under Grounds C, which is the exemption most often used, abortion may only be performed if continuing the pregnancy puts the mother’s (or her existing children’s) mental and physical health at greater risk than if she has an abortion. Yet critics have claimed that there is little evidence to suggest that this is a correct assumption in most cases, and that we now have abortion on demand in practice.
Pray: that serious consideration be given to reforming this abortion law. (Heb.7:12)
More: http://www.christianconcern.com/our-concerns/abortion/mp-calls-for-reform-of-uk-abortion-law
