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The BMA is the UK’s professional association and registered trade union for doctors and currently has 170,000 members.
It has been opposed to the legalisation of assisted suicide and euthanasia for every year of its history with the exception of 2005-6 when it was neutral for just twelve months.
The first motion (79 on the agenda) affirms that ‘it is not appropriate at this time to debate whether or not to change existing BMA policy’.
Acouncil leader has broken ranks to condemn the Scottish Government's controversial named person policy, calling it "intrusive nonsense" imposed by "SNP dictators".
Alisdair Rhind, deputy leader of Highland Council, the first local authority to trial the scheme, said he was "totally against" the policy which will see a named person assigned to around one million people under 18 from August.
At next month’s General Synod, the Church of England will try a new approach to avoiding a disastrous formal schism over homosexuality. After two days of discussing legislative matters in open session and once all outsiders have left, the 550 representatives from around the world will break into groups of 20 for three days of intensive and personal discussions about sexuality.
The head of Britain's biggest abortion provider has called for abortions to be made freely available on demand saying they are just another form of birth control.
In a new book, Ann Furedi, chief executive of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, claimed it is "a travesty of our freedom" for terminations to be regulated by criminal law.
She also argued that there is no moral difference between decisions on a termination and whether to get married or divorced.
Abortion laws in Northern Ireland will be put under scrutiny by the Court of Appeal, starting on Monday.
It comes after the Attorney General and Department of Justice appealed a High Court decision last November to grant a judicial review into termination laws in NI.
CALLS by humanists for pupils to have a legal right right to opt-out of religious observance in schools have been rejected by the Scottish Government.
The decision comes only a week after a United Nations report recommended ministers repeal existing guidance which makes it compulsory for children to attendance faith based classes and events unless their parents have requested an opt-out.
The confluence of technology and imagination is what drives science forward, sometimes at astonishing speed. This has been especially true of biology since the structure of DNA was elucidated by Crick and Watson in 1953. The discovery of the chemical basis of life meant that it could be manipulated directly, by chemistry, rather than slowly and indirectly by selective breeding. But, of course, man came late to this game. Viruses had been attacking and subverting DNA for billions of years, and organisms have been defending themselves against such subversion for just as long. Slowly we have learned to find and appropriate the weapons of that long war and turn them to our own purposes. We now have access to tools of astonishing power and precision for the editing of DNA. At the same time we are able to manufacture the substance through pure chemistry. It’s possible to glimpse a future in which DNA engineering becomes something as relatively simple as software engineering, and its products become as easy to use.
Doctors chiefs have said they will debate whether to drop their opposition to assisted suicide.
A consultation by the British Medical Association, the trade union for doctors in the UK, into whether it should adopt a neutral stance on the highly controversial practice found many doctors raised concerns over helping people to die, which contradicts their prime role of saving their lives.
But campaigners have renewed their calls on the BMA to drop its opposition to assisted suicide, making reference a YouGov survey which found just 7 per cent backed the organisation’s current position.
The Bishop of St Albans, Alan Smith, introduced the Betting Licenses Bill in the House of Lords on Monday 13 June. Here he explains why.
Gaming machines known as FOBTs, or Fixed Odds Betting Terminals, are now accepted as a significant cause of much gambling-related harm and addiction on our high streets.
Not only are there countless stories of debt, bankruptcy and even some of suicide resulting from FOBT addiction, but rising levels of crime in betting premises has also been linked to the presence of FOBTs on the high street. Numerous betting shop staff have been abused, assaulted, and seen their shops destroyed by enraged gamblers, while the Gambling Commission recognises that FOBTs create a high risk environment for money-laundering. Just in the last week a BBC investigation has shown how betting shop managers will go to extraordinary lengths to keep gamblers glued to the machines in the hope of maximising profit, while another bookmaker has faced a substantial fine for failing to prevent the laundering of stolen cash. Individual lives and whole communities are being unnecessary blighted by the machines. Reducing the level of harm to individuals and society must be a priority, yet has so far eluded policy- and law-makers.
A new congregation to provide an opportunity for worship, mutual support and encouragement for Christians in the LGBTI community is being launched this summer.
“There has been a need for something like this for some while” says Revd Monica Arnold. “While debate rages on, passionately, at the highest levels of the Church of England, LGBT people continue to live with the realities of their daily life and the mixed reception many receive in parishes. An opportunity to worship and enjoy fellowship without hiding or denying a fundamental aspect of their identity is so important to all aspects of healthy life.