Welcome to The Augustine Bioethics Network
An international community of volunteers seeking a deeper shared understanding of the dignity and vulnerability of every human person.
Resource libraryWho we are
We are an international network administered and overseen by a company limited by guarantee based in the United Kingdom. The network is supported by a committee of which Prof Neil Scolding is chair and Prof David Albert Jones is secretary, and by an advisory board which includes two theological advisors (Rev Dr John O’Connor OP and Sr Margaret Atkins). The network is endorsed and actively supported by the Catholic Medical Association UK who have an appointed representative on the advisory board (Dr Dominic Whitehouse) and a member on the Committee (Dr Mike Delany). Our patron is the great philosopher and theologian, Augustine of Hippo.
Read moreABN Launch Event: The Debate over Assisted Suicide in Wales, Scotland, and England
Online event: Tuesday 14th April 2026 at 7:30 GMT
Click here to registerRecently added content
Preventing not assisting suicide
September 10, 2026
Today, 10 September is World Suicide Prevention Day 2026. This year, the day occurs immediately before the date that the UK Parliament is due to debate the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, a Bill to change the law on ‘assisting or encouraging’ suicide. To highlight this remarkable juxtaposition the Augustine Bioethics Network (ABN)
Feast Day of Saint Augustine
August 28, 2026
The 28th of August is the Feast Day of Saint Augustine of Hippo, patron of the Augustine Bioethics Network. Augustine is relevant for bioethics because bioethics presupposes an understanding of the human person and of the body and society. Augustine presents a vision within which both soul and body possess inherent human dignity and both
Writing or speaking to your MP
August 6, 2026
The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill introduced by Lauren Edwards MP would make it legal for a doctor to encourage or assist the suicide of someone with a ‘terminal illness’ (which would include conditions that people could live with for years with appropriate treatment and support). The Bill is a ‘Private Members’ Bill’,