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Who wants to be an abortionist?
By Lachlan de Crespigny Dr. Evan James never wavered in his determination to become an abortion provider. But he is unusual – few trainee doctors have a driving ambition to become abortionists. The U.S. has seen a 40 per cent drop in the number of doctors who perform abortions since the early 1980s. Those in
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Opt-Out Day and Consequences
Part 2 of 2 of a series on TSA searches and Opt-Out Day The first post in this series argued that the TSA search policy violates a fundamental liberal right to sexual privacy. However, the fact that people have a reasonable claim that their rights are being violated does not ipso facto make Opt-Out day
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Opt-Out Day and Rights
Part 1 of 2 on the TSA and Opt Out Day To say that the American Transportation Security Agency's new airport security policy requiring all passengers to either be scanned by a machine that sees through one's clothes or submit to an invasive pat-down by TSA agents has generated a great deal of controversy
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Data or life? Ethical obligations to present and future patients.
By Jahel Queralt-Lange Each year 10.9 million new cases of cancer are diagnosed worldwide, and 6.7 million people die. The good news is that better drugs are developing faster. We all want to hear about “wonder drugs” and the scientific and medical communities feel the urge (and sometimes the pressure) to provide them. However, some
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The Poison of Hate Speech Law
Today another show trial of a critic of Islam has been going on. No, not in Saudi Arabia. In Austria. Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff is being prosecuted for hate speech for describing Islam and Sharia law in public lectures. Reporters from the left wing NEWS, an Austrian magazine, recorded her lectures and gave them to the Vienna
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Arik Sharon Back in the Sycamore Ranch
On the 4th of January 2006, the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (better known to his countrymen as ‘Arik’) suffered a massive stroke at his vast Sycamore Ranch. He was placed under induced coma from which he never recovered consciousness. The hero of the Yom Kippur war, the villain of the massacres in Qibya and
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X Factor Abortion: Is it Wrong?
by Julian Savulescu Paije Richardson's dreams of a new life were crushed tonight as the public voted him from the X Factor final rounds. On Dec 9, the fate of another young hopeful will be decided by the people’s choice. But this time it will be a life and death choice. A couple have allegedly
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Unintentional contraception
by Anders Sandberg The pope approves of the use of condoms to fight AIDS: according to an upcoming book he says it is acceptable when the intention is to reduce the risk of infection. While he still views abstinence as the proper way of fighting the disease, "In certain cases, where the intention is to
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Reframing Sacred Values and Making Political Compromises
Steve Clarke Scott Atran’s Talking to The Enemy (HarperCollins: New York, 2010) has recently been published. This is a big, sprawling and very readable book which has much that is important to say about religious behaviour and the role of religion in inspiring, and also in preventing, terrorism and conflict in general. I recommend it
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Against Open Mindedness
Lots of people believe in psychic powers, but there has never been any convincing evidence for their existence. Though there are many anecdotes attesting to their existence (below I will say something about why we ought not to be impressed by these stories), there has never been any genuine evidence in their favour. That is,