Bioethics

In the last couple of days, the House of Commons witnessed some of the passionate and in-depth debates for which the British Parliament is rightly famous. On Monday 19 May, MPs were asked to vote on the possibility for scientists of creating hybrid man/animal DNA for medical research. After several hours of heated debate, a majority approved it, confirming Britain's lead in this kind of research (as opposed to the US, where President Bush will not allow stem cell research).
Yesterday (Tuesday), the debate was first about an amendment proposed by Ian Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader, to limit access to fertility treatment to heterosexual couples. It was also rejected. Then it moved to abortion: Conservative MPs had introduced a series of amendments to reduce the time limit for abortion, which is presently of 24 weeks - one of the longest in the world, to 22, 20, 16 or 12 weeks. In the end, all these admendments were rejected, leaving the legislation unchanged. But although all main parties had allowed a free vote on these controversial issues, votes were actually largely along party lines, the Conservatives favouring a more restrictive legislation whereas the Labour MPs voted for the status quo. David Cameron voted for a limit of 20 weeks. So the topic might come back if the Tories win the next general election. In the meantime, read the fascinating debates.