The World Medical Association (WMA) is largely an association with little impact among professionals, but its policies are important. They can be used as a reference point in bioethical debates in jurisdictions around the world. American bioethics journalist Wesley J. Smith has harshly attacked the WMA’s latest code of ethics as a betrayal of doctors’…
The Italian Constitutional Court has ruled that women will be able to use embryos conceived with their husband or partner, even if they do not have their consent or are divorced. In this way, the man will not be able to revoke his paternity after in vitro fertilization. Only the woman can decide about the…
The expert committee monitoring compliance with the UN’s oldest core human rights treaty on ending racial discrimination has indicated they will use their platform to push countries to promote access to abortion. This would follow the pattern established by other treaty bodies, but this would be the first time abortion is pushed in the name…
Abortion figures are now ‘out of control’, according to the Life Institute, as new data released for the first six months of the year suggests that up to 10,000 terminations may take place in 2023 if the trend continues. Data released to Carol Nolan TD from the HSE suggested that more than 5,000 abortions have already…
One of the disconcerting features of bioethics debates is how quickly the public changes its mind on controversial issues. This is particularly evident in discussions about hereditary human genome editing (HGEH) and mitochondrial replacement therapy (MRT). If one were to ask whether scientists should be allowed to tinker with the human genome, most people would…
