Ethics/rights

The creation of mobile clinics that can euthanize patients at home is now being considered by the Dutch government, but some are calling the program “Death-on-Wheels.”

Euthanasia has already been made legal in the Netherlands, but new plans could expand eligibility criteria and make euthanasia more accessible. Rita Marker, a speaker for Patients Rights Council stated, “Well you know how they say that death comes knocking. Now it really does.”

Edith Schippers, the Dutch health minister, in a written answer to questions from Christian Union MPs, has said that candidates for mobile units could be "patients who meet the criteria for euthanasia but whose doctors are unwilling to carry it out.” more >>

Patients at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., can read their favorite Gospel passages once again after a ban on the Bible and other religious texts was repealed Thursday.

"Bibles and other religious materials have always been and will remain available for patient use at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center," said a statement released today by the hospital. "The visitation policy as written was incorrect and should have been more thoroughly reviewed before its release. It has been rescinded."

Walter Reed did not return a call for further comments by press time. more >>

The largest women's health services provider in Britain is offering women a gift over the Christmas season that has angered some pro-life groups in the country: free morning-after pills.

With a photo of the word “sex” lit up in Christmas tree lights on its website, the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), which boasts on its website that it is Britain's largest single abortion provider, is offering women a chance to get free morning-after pills and condoms sent to their homes after they answer a few questions to ascertain their “medical suitability” after a 15-minute medical consultation.

A spokesperson said the reason BPAS picked December to hand out free morning-after pills was not to anger religious conservatives, but because “we see more women with an unplanned pregnancy in January than any other time of the year,” according to the BPAS website. more >>

The National Association of Free Will Baptists has released a study guide titled "Racism, the Bible, and the Church: A Biblical Perspective," after a Free Will congregation in Pike County, Ky., sparked national outcry over its independent decision to bar interracial couples from membership.

The study guide, which brands racism as a sin, was released by the NAFWB on Wednesday, Dec. 7, about two weeks after Gulnare Freewill Baptist Church passed the controversial proposal on Sunday, Nov. 27. 

The proposal read: more >>

In an effort to feed the hungry while also cleaning up the sometimes negative image of people who use marijuana, a medical marijuana dispensary in California is trading pot for food and donating all proceeds to local food banks.

Granny Purps, a medical marijuana dispensary in Soquel, Calif., that specializes in baked goods, has been organizing the food drive for two years. The way it works is simple: for every six cans of food people bring in, they will get in exchanging one marijuana cigarette (called a “pre-roll”). There is no limit to the number of pre-rolls participants can receive, and all the canned food goes directly to a local food bank.

"We're in a really controversial industry, and we wanted to show that we're here for good," Nancy Black, sales manager at Granny Purps, told ABC News. more >>

An Illinois Bed and Breakfast has responded to a civil rights charge after a gay couple complained that their human rights had been violated, and are now attempting to suppress what the Bed and Breakfast claims is their religious freedom.

Gay couple Mark and Todd Wathen filed complaints in November against TimberCreek after being told that the Bed and Breakfast, which specializes in outdoor country weddings, would not host same-sex civil unions.

The Christian owner Jim Walder cited in an email to the Wathens that homosexuality was “wrong and unnatural” in accordance with the Bible. more >>