Thomas More Institute

Category Archives: Human Rights

Published on
7 August 2015

Is ‘Sex Work’ a Human Right?

Posted in Civil Liberties, Conscience, Culture, Human Rights, Marriage & Family

At Amnesty International’s International Conference Meeting (ICM) in Dublin this month delegates will debate the proposition that there is a human right to engage in prostitution, or “sex work”. Amnesty International has previously called for decriminalisation of prostitution and has asserted that sex workers face various forms of discrimination from the State and stigmatisation by society […]

Published on
9 July 2015

Migration Crises

Posted in British Politics, Culture, Human Life, Human Rights, Moral Philosophy, Morality in Public, World Affairs

Over the past three months we have seen numerous reports on migrants crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa to Italy and moving on to the English Channel at Calais with Dover in sight – in some cases succeeding in the latter crossing, too. In virtue of the historic sequence of the two crossings, both involving […]

Published on
19 June 2015

Professor Geeta Nargund and Reproductive Rights

Posted in Abortion, Civil Liberties, Culture, Education, Human Rights, IVF

For the most part having children is not about enhancing choice. It is a practical reality that calls for much forgoing of what parents might want to do – whether listening to music, going to the theatre, having a drink and a chat with friends, or just sleeping. As a result a premium has come […]

Published on
14 June 2015

‘Transgenderism’ – a liberal heresy?

Posted in Human Rights, Marriage & Family, Transgenderism

Bruce Jenner, the men’s decathlon gold medal winner at the 1976 Olympics, has appeared on the July 2015 cover of Vanity Fair, with an announcement that he considers himself a woman, and is undergoing a series of surgical and hormonal procedures, commonly known as a ‘sex change’ but, in our more politically correct times, preferentially […]

Published on
15 November 2014

Solidarity with the weakest – ‘they’ are ‘us’

Posted in Abortion, British Politics, Human Life, Human Rights, Northern Ireland

In early October the Northern Ireland Department of Justice Minister, David Ford, announced a consultation on whether Northern Ireland should allow abortion in the case of what is styled ‘lethal foetal abnormality’. Essentially, Northern Ireland, which has hitherto maintained a relatively consistent legislative position that recognises and upholds the inalienable right to life of the […]

Published on
8 November 2014

‘Euthanasia will make it more rather than less painful’ – Britain a step closer to euthanasia?

Posted in Assisted Suicide, British Politics, Human Life, Human Rights

The British media are once again awash with articles on Lord Falconer’s Assisted Dying [assisted suicide] Bill, as members of the House of Lords began reviewing and debating it yesterday, Friday 7 November. The Bill, purportedly based on the US State of Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act, received its second reading in the Lords on […]

Published on
24 July 2014

Whence a Right to Die? Whither may it Lead?

Posted in Assisted Suicide, Civil Liberties, Conscience, Culture, Euthanasia, Human Life, Human Rights, Liberty, Moral Philosophy, Morality in Public

As a right to die becomes the subject of yet another House of Lords debate it may be worth revisiting a matter upon which this blog has commented before here and here. The writer has recently seen a film about Virginia Woolf, and it may be of value to shape the discussion with reference to […]

Published on
3 March 2014

Religious Slaughter and the Rights of Chickens in Denmark

Posted in Civil Liberties, Conscience, Culture, Ethics in the Media, Human Rights, Liberty, Moral Philosophy, Morality in Public, Public Policy, Religion

To the delight of secularists and ‘animal rights’ activists the Danish parliament last week passed a law banning Kosher and Halal methods of slaughter on the grounds that these violate the rights of animals. Dan Jørgensen, the Danish minister for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries told Denmark’s TV2 that ‘animal rights come before religion’. Unsurprisingly, Jewish […]