Politicians love the abortion debate nearly as much as I love root-canal work. I recall, in mid 2008, Justice Forrest Miller opining that the abortion law was being flouted both in word and intent, particularly in the use of the mental health provision. There was not even a glimmer of a debate on this in the [...]

Unfortunately, I have been too busy to comment on Obama’s “historic” healthcare bill, up until now. Somehow, congratulating Obama on his first real achievement seems somewhat hypocritical, considering I think the bill is the usual socialist mix of paternalistic pseudo-concern and a distressing disregard of both taxpayer’s pockets and obvious consequences. The fight to reverse [...]

You  may be wondering why Republicans seem so adamantly against Obama’s healthcare bill when it seems, superficially at any rate, to offer millions more people a chance of decent health care. The Democrats love to portray the Republicans as selfish people obstructing the provision of healthcare to millions of their fellow Americans. This may explain [...]

Euthanasia is a topic not unlike abortion, in that it generates a great deal of heat in a conversation and very little light. Like abortion, it is being practiced in New Zealand. Unlike abortion, there is no set of rules to guide it’s use and overt euthanasia often meets the business end of Law Enforcement [...]

The Abortion Supervisory Committee are pushing for more use of the abortifacient, RU486. They say that it is being used in only 6% of abortions while the “standard” overseas is 20 – 30%. Now I don’t have a problem with RU486 being used instead of a surgical termination of pregnancy (leaving aside the whole abortion [...]

I have a great deal of misgiving about the attempt of a couple to claim under ACC for the accident of their daughter’s birth. Their daughter’s spina bifida (open spine at birth) was not discovered on ultrasound and, as the parents insist that they would have aborted her, if they had known, they are trying [...]

This Month’s British Journal of Psychiatry carries a research paper that should make all doctors signing abortion certificates on the basis of mental health concerns, think twice. The paper elegantly demonstrates that abortion worsens mental health outcomes. Unfortunately, I can only link to this article, rather than the paper itself, which is behind a pay-wall. [...]

No sooner has Phil Goff sort-of apologized for Labour losing the plot in their last term in government, when along comes the amazing medical dunce, Ruth Dyson, to suggest that Labour would be willing to fund condoms in supermarkets. Only the plain ones, of course, least she be accused of wasting money (perish the thought!). [...]

There is lots of colourful debate about this issue, both in the media and in the blogosphere. I will not debate the ethics and morals of the issue but stick to a few very simple facts. Firstly homosexual relationships are about 7 times more likely to dissolve than a heterosexual marriage. This figure is probably [...]

Canterbury sees the opening of New Zealand’s first Faith Healing clinic. There are a number of churches that hold regular faith healing meetings, of course, but this is the first “clinic” where the faith healing is offered “on demand”, as it were. The MacDoctor maintains an open mind on faith healing. As a Christian, I [...]