This is an 84% increase compared to the year ending 31 March 2021, when there were 1,574 abortions.
There was a 103% increase in late abortions at 13 weeks and over, with 154 abortions occurring at 13 weeks and over, up from 76 for the year ending 31 March 2024.
The statistics show that there was also a 19% increase in disability-selective abortions for ‘non-fatal disabilities’ from the year ending 31 March 2022. Under ground E of the 2020 Regulations, babies with Down’s syndrome, cleft lip and club foot can be aborted right through to birth.
There was also a 61% increase in abortions for girls under 18 years old from the year ending 31 March 2021.
A proposed bill to intensify a crackdown on public displays of religion, including prayer, would radically infringe the rights and freedoms of the people of Quebec, according to the province’s Catholic Bishops.
Bill 9, introduced by the governing Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) on Thursday, bans prayer in public institutions, including in colleges and universities. It also bans communal prayer on public roads and in parks, with the threat of large fines for groups in contravention of the prohibition.
Short public events will require prior approval to be exempt.
“This latter point is particularly worrying, as we have long considered that secularism concerns not relations within society, but the relationship between the state and religions”.
Committed secularists who oppose Christianity in schools fail to see their own principles depend in large part on wisdom born of the faith.
That’s according to the Bishop of Down and Connor, Alan McGuickian.
Bishop McGuickian was commenting on a recent ruling of the UK Supreme Court that state schools in Northern Ireland should not be teaching Christianity ‘as true’.
Bishop McGuckian, however, said he wanted to challenge the principle that Christianity should be given no priority at all in schools, saying it, “is simply ungrounded, unreasonable and illogical.”
“Those who seek to have Christianity sidelined in our shared society are cutting off their noses to spite their face. The very values and principles on which they base their case are rooted in western civilisation which owes a great debt to the teachings of Christianity.”
“The idea of the rights of the individual to be free from coercion, all the freedoms contained in the various charters of human rights, are based on and stem from the biblical teaching that every single person is created ‘in the image and likeness of God’.
The UK’s National Trust has refused a documentary-maker permission to film at a historic site in Northumberland associated with the life and legacy of St Cuthbert due to the filmmaker’s “religious affiliation”.
Christian Holden, who specialises in documentary and promotional work with Christian themes, was commissioned earlier this year to produce a work exploring the Way of St Cuthbert.
He sought permission from the National Trust, a charity dedicated to preserving the UK’s historic cultural legacy, to film at St Cuthbert’s Cave, traditionally believed to be the place where St Cuthbert’s body was laid in 875 AD.
However, the National Trust declined the request, citing a policy against filming with “religious affiliation”. The Trust also expressed disapproval of Holden’s website, saintant.com, because of its religious themes.
The refusal comes in the wake of criticism of the Trust for sidelining Christian heritage in its public programming and internal culture. The shift risks marginalising the country’s foundational Christian history, which has significantly shaped Britain’s culture, architecture and national identity.
The Catholic Bishops of England and Wales have welcomed the UK government’s decision to scrap the two-child cap on allowances and tax credits for children.
Bishop Richard Moth said that the policy, instituted by the Conservative Government in 2017 directly pushed many families into poverty and created anxiety for low-income, working families who had no choice but to claim social welfare [Universal Credit] as a result of job loss or the onset of disability.
“Repealing this policy, although overdue, comes at a significant cost to the government and we applaud that decision”, he added.
“Large families are a blessing rather than a burden. We must consider how, in a variety of ways, we can support the flourishing of families which are necessary to secure the future of our society.“
The High Court has allowed the HSE to terminate the pregnancy of a minor, despite a similar case in the past resulting in another minor becoming suicidal after her abortion.
The HSE submitted the application in October, claiming the continuation of the pregnancy posed a risk to the teenager’s life and that she was not capable of making the decision herself.
The ruling was made when the girl, who is residing at an IPAS centre, was 14 weeks pregnant, placing her past the 12-week period during which abortions are permitted for any reason.
It was claimed that she had made a number of threats to harm herself if the pregnancy wasn’t ended.
This tragic case evokes memories of the C case, that happened prior to Repeal, where a minor in care was brought to England for an abortion on identical grounds as the present case.
The girl at the centre of the C case ended up deeply regretting the abortion and went public to say that she developed serious mental health issues to the point of becoming suicidal when she realised that her baby was dead.
The Church in Ireland is suffering under a ‘soft persecution’ with an anti-Catholic bias infecting media portrayals of it both north and south of the border.
That’s according to Fr Timothy Bartlett who has served in prominent leadership roles in the Church including the World Meeting of Families in Dublin in 2018 which culminated in the visit of Pope Francis.
Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph he gave as an example the tendency to equate all institutional sexual abuse with the Catholic Church. He also instanced a tendency to dismiss what the Church has to say on any subject, even concern for the environment, by continually referring to the sex abuse crisis.
Fr Bartlett also mentioned that on almost every issue, particularly with BBC Northern Ireland, there was “a lack of understanding of Catholicism”. He made his comments as the BBC is embroiled in controversy over liberal/left ideological bias within the station.
As if to confirm the charge of journalistic carelessness about matters Catholic, the Belfast Telegraph described Fr Bartlett as having worked with the “Primate of All-Ireland Cardinal Sean Daly”. They appear to have combined the names of the late Cardinal Cahal Daly and the retired Cardinal Sean Brady.
The Catholic bishops’ conference of England and Wales recorded 5,432 baptisms of catechumens aged over seven years in 2024, the highest number in over a decade, as Mass attendance continued to show a gradual increase. The Anglican data shows a similar pattern.
This is a 21 per cent rise from 4,494 in 2023, the sharpest increase since 2013, when 4,702 baptisms in this age group were recorded. The 2023 data already showed an increase above prepandemic levels, compared to 2019 when only 4,059 were recorded. More people aged over seven were baptised in 2024 than in any other year in the 11-year period for which data is available, by quite a considerable margin. The number of people baptised in other denominations being received into full communion with Rome also shows an unprecedented 30 per cent increase from 2023 to 2024. The number of adults receiving their First Holy Communion after the age of 18 rose, from 1,850 to 2,659.
Slovenians voted in a national plebiscite on Sunday against a new law that had legalised ‘assisted dying’.
Around 53 percent of voters rejected the law, while 47 percent voted in favour, meaning its implementation will now be suspended and a replacement bill cannot be considered for at least one year.
The law had decreed that some terminally ill people would be accorded a right to ‘assisted dying’. This meant that patients would administer the lethal medication themselves after approval from two doctors and a period of consultation.
Slovenia’s parliament had approved the law in July after a 2024 referendum supported it.
But the new vote was called after a civil group, backed by the Catholic Church and the conservative parliamentary opposition, gathered 46,000 signatures in favour of a repeat, exceeding the 40,000 required.
“Compassion has won,” declared Ales Primc, a conservative activist who led the campaign against the law. “Slovenia has rejected the government’s health, pension and social reform based on death by poisoning.”
Human rights concerns about surrogacy were aired at a special meeting at the European Parliament last week.
Speakers included the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls, a former EU Commissioner, an Italian government minister and representatives of civil society organisations.
The event follows a recent EU resolution condemning surrogacy and comes on the heels of a landmark United Nations report, calling for the global abolition of the practice.
Human Rights’ lawyer, Carmen Correas of ADF International, said: “Surrogacy treats women and children as commodities. The European Union has taken an important step in acknowledging its inherent harms. We urge policymakers to move swiftly toward a clear, coordinated legal prohibition that protects the dignity and rights of all involved.”
Italian MEP, Paolo Inselvini, said: “Today it became clear that a determined European front exists, committed to stopping reproductive exploitation across the globe. We will therefore continue to fight so that Europe abandons all ambiguity and assumes a clear responsibility: surrogacy must be a universal crime.”
