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Poland reopens the abortion debate
In Poland, discussions focusing on the draft bill, "Stop abortion",began on Thursday (see Pologne : la proposition de loi limitant l’avortement sera débattue jeudi- Poland: draft bill limiting abortion to be debated on Thursday). Joanna Banasiuk outlined the bill...
Opening of a paediatric euthanasia centre in the Netherlands
Between now and next year, a "paediatric euthanasia centre" is scheduled to open in the Netherlands, announced Professor Eduard Verhagen. Dutch law currently authorises euthanasia for babies up to 1 year old and for children over 12 in cases of "intolerable...
Does contraception really reduce the number of abortions ? Experts’ answer
September 26th is the « World Contraception Day”. For the occasion, Claire de La Hougue and Grégor Puppinck bring forward the paradox of contraception, according to which the number of abortions increases proportionally to the level of contraception [1]. They...
Human embryonic stem cells and overenthusiastic media
A “prowess”, a “revolution”, “promises”: one semantic field used to amplify every new announcement –though isolated- concerning work based on human embryonic stem cells. This week, it was the turn of the Californian company Asterias Biotherapeutics, which is...
Cybathlon: a generous idea or the prelude to servitude?
While the Paralympics are coming to an end, another competition, the Cybathlon, is about to bring together disabled people, who will be confronting each other in trials carried out in symbiosis with various technological devices. The Cybathlon, organised in...
Surrogacy: The Council of Europe rejects the resolution, but suggests a recommendation. Decoding.
Yesterday, the Social Affairs Commission of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) rejected the draft resolution by Petra Sutter (cf. The Council of Europe rejects the report on surrogacy), which underlined the risks of surrogacy for-profit,...
“Reproduction in mice without using eggs”?
"Reproduction in mice without using eggs": this has been achieved by a team comprising scientists from Bath University in the United Kingdom, and Regensberg University in Germany. A general announcement has been made, "fuelling the imagination to the realms of...
Shortage of organ donations: do chimeric embryos offer a unique solution?
On 20 August 2016, the American Health Institute (NIH) lifted the moratorium involving research into hybrid animal-human embryos. However, the use of Federal funds for this type of research was prohibited by the NIH in September 2015. The NIH announcement...
Liberalisation of IVF in Lithuania
On Wednesday, Lithuania liberalised in-vitro fertilisation (IVF), overturning the presidential veto in favour of legislation which was deemed too rigid by the president last July. From now on, IVF will be paid for by the country's social security system...
André Compte-Sponville: “Medicine is not going to cure us of finiteness”
On the occasion of a scientific seminar[i], André Compte-Sponville, philosopher and member of the French National Consultative Ethics Committee, gave food for thought on the increasing role of medicine in everyday life. As far as the philosopher is concerned,...
NIPS soon to be reimbursed in Luxembourg?
Non-invasive prenatal screening for Down syndrome has been available on the European market for many years. The national health authorities are now considering incorporating it into their screening policies, which would mean that such tests would be refunded within...
Denmark relaunches the “assisted suicide” debate
In Denmark, the Social Democrats and Liberals are calling for a review of end-of-life legislation. They are joining forces with the Ecologist party, Alternativet, which has so far been the only party in favour of "assisted suicide". As in France, "active...