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IMAGE The lost coins
IMAGE IMAGE is a Christian, evangelical, non-denominational pro-life organisation concerned about all pro-life matters - abortion, euthanasia, human embryo experimented - and those affected by them. We provide pregnancy crisis, abortion, post-abortion and teenage sexuality counselling, train counsellors and help set up pregnancy crisis centres. We seek to encourage churches and individual Christians to become involved in pro-life issues. We organise national conferences on pro-life matters and provide speakers and resources to Christian and nonChristian groups. We are particularly concerned to see young people reached with sex education within a moral framework. Abortion
in Britain The circumstances in which the 1967 legislation permitted abortion were amended by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act, 1990. Abortion is now permitted if two doctors certify that abortion is justified on one or more of the following grounds: the continuance of pregnancy would involve risk to the life of the mother greater then if the pregnancy were terminated (no age limit); to prevent grave permanent injury to the physical or mental health of the mother (no age limit); the continuance of the pregnancy would involve risk of injury to the physical or mental health of the mother or existing children of the family of the mother greater than if the pregnancy were terminated (up to 24 weeks of pregnancy); there were substantial risk that if the child were born it would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped (no age limit); in emergency, to save the life of the mother or prevent grave permanent injury to her physical or mental health. Selective termination of one or more, but not all, fetuses in a multiple pregnancy is also permitted. Some abortions are performed on NHS premises; many in private clinics. The majority are performed by vacuum suction. The cervix is dilated, a tube inserted into the uterus and a powerful suction machine suctions the baby in pieces from the womb into a container. Some babies are aborted by dilation and curettage (D & C). The cervix is dilated, a loop-shaped steel knife is inserted in the uterus and the baby scraped out in pieces. In later pregnancies, dilatation and evacuation (D & E) is used. After the cervix is dilated, forceps are used to pull the baby out in pieces. An instrument is then inserted to crush the skull so the head can be removed. In late pregnancies, the mother will be given prostaglandin, inducing labour in order to produce a dead baby. A poison may be used to prevent a live birth. An alternative is hysterotomy, a surgical procedure similar to a Caesarean section, but with the intention of producing a dead baby rather than a live one. The
effects of abortion A report in 1994 by the Commission of Inquiry into the operation and consequences of the Abortion Act said physical effects of abortion can include perforation of the uterus, increased risk of miscarriage, and tubal infection, which is the most common cause of infertility. Women commonly suffer emotionally after abortion from what has come to be known as post-abortion syndrome. Symptoms can include sleeplessness, anxiety, guilt, grief, anger, depression, drugs and alcohol abuse, self-destructive behaviour, difficulties with relationships and severe emotional pain. Teenage
sexual behaviour Britain has the highest proportion of unmarried teenage mothers of any country in the world, according to a survey of sexual activity in young women, covering 53 countries, by the Alan Guttmacher Institute in New York. Britain’s teenage pregnancy rate is twice as high as that for Germany, four times that of France and seven times that of Holland. Government figures for the number of girls under 16 who became pregnant in 1996 were the highest for 11 years. One survey said the figure of six years ago of one in five girls aged 14 and 15 who were sexually active had now become one in three. Although the number of 14 and 15-year-olds going to family planning clinics to obtain contraception has trebled in the past eight years - one in 10 of all girls aged 14 and 15 went to a planning clinic for contraception during 1997 - Britain now has the highest pregnancy rate for young teenagers in Europe. Euthanasia
in Britain In Britain, euthanasia and doctor-assisted suicide are illegal. In 1994 a select committee appointed by the Government to consider euthanasia recommended the law should not be changed. In recent years, however, the pro-euthanasia lobby has been increasingly vociferous, and there is a danger than euthanasia will be carried on despite the law. In 1993 the House of Lords upheld decisions by the High Court and the Appeal Court that feeding by tube constituted medical treatment, and food and water could therefore be withheld from Tony Bland, brain injured in the Hillsborough football stadium disaster, thus effectively starving him to death “in his own best interests.” Court permission was later given for food and water to be withdrawn from other brain-damaged patients. In 1997 the Government published a green paper describing euthanasia as “a deliberate intervention with the express aim of ending life” (making no mention of killing by omission), suggesting legalising the withdrawal of food and water from patients, and suggesting making advance directives (“living wills”) legally binding. No legislation has followed so far. The British Medical Association issued a consultation document asking for opinions on when treatment, including food and water, should be withheld from patients, and is considering guidelines on the matter, to be issued to doctors. It is to hold a conference on doctor-assisted suicide. In January, 1999 the Times reported that the deaths of at least 50 patients were being investigated at hospitals around Britain. It said seven separate inquiries were under way into claims that doctors had withheld intravenous drips from dehydrated patients, often while they were under sedation, leaving the patients to die of thirst. Human
embryo experimentation The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act of 1990 permits human embryo experimentation, including experimentation to destruction. Of the 300,000 human embryos created in laboratories in Britain between 1991 and 1994, 27,493 were used in destructive research. Embryos left over from IVF procedures are donated for research; eggs are obtained from women undergoing sterilisation and then fertilised by sperm from donors. A steady supply of human embryos is used for research on contraceptives, abortion vaccines and drugs. Human
cloning After the successful cloning of Dolly the sheep, calves and mice, people are asking: why not cloned humans? Clones are made by putting the nucleus from a donor cell together with the cytoplasm from an unfertilised egg and fusing the two. No sperm is used. The resulting embryo is placed within a womb and brought to birth. It contains only the DNA of the cell donor. It is in fact the cell donor’s later-born identical twin. Some people want to see cloned babies because they are unable to conceive by normal means, because they want to clone loved ones who are dead or dying, because they want tissue for transplant or because they want children who are genetically enhanced. Others oppose human cloning because they believe it to be wrong and because of the number of embryos that have had to be expended to produce animal clones. Dolly the sheep was just one of 277 embryos used in order to produce a single successful clone. One doctor says he hopes to produce a human clone within two years. In Britain, the Human Genetics Advisory Commission and the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority have recommended to the Government that cloning humans to produce babies should be forbidden, but cloning human embryos for medical research should be permitted. Literature IMAGE publish attractive literature on pro-life issues. We also publish IMAGE News, a bi-monthly newsletter. National Day of Prayer Each year IMAGE organises a National Day of Prayer about abortion. We organise a continuous prayer rota in the Manchester, England, area, encourage the setting up of prayer rotas in other areas, and encourage individual Christians nationwide to pray on one day each month for pro-life matters. We supply information to help with prayer on request. We may be contacted at IMAGE, PO
Box 51, Hyde, Cheshire, England
SK14 1PY. Telephone 0161- 368 8875. E mail image@mcr1.poptel.org.uk A telephone counselling helpline is available on 0161- 320 7496
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