The Anscombe Bioethics Centre was a Catholic academic institute based in Oxford, engaging in scholarship, public debate, and education. Established in 1977, it was the oldest bioethical research institution in the United Kingdom. After having had its funding cut drastically by the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales, the Catholic Trust of England and Wales decided to close the Centre on 31 July 2025.
The Anscombe Centre had formerly been known as the Linacre Centre for Healthcare Ethics and was based in London at the Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth.. Upon moving to Oxford in 2010, it was renamed in honour of Elizabeth Anscombe, who had died in 2001 and was notable for her contribution to moral philosophy both in relation to the understanding of intentionG.E.M. Anscombe, Intention (1957). and in relation to practical ethical issues such as contraception, abortion, and euthanasia.G.E.M. Anscombe, Papers Vol III, Ethics Religion and Politics, (1983).Luke Gormally and Mary Geach (eds), Human life Human Life, Action and Ethics: Essays by G.E.M. Anscombe (2006).Luke Gormally and Mary Geach (eds), Faith in a Hard Ground: Essays on Religion, Philosophy and Ethics by G.E.M. Anscombe (2008).Luke Gormally, Roger Teichmann and David Albert Jones, The Moral Philosophy of Elizabeth Anscombe, Exeter: Imprint Academic (2016). While alive, Anscombe had contributed to the centre, most notably drafting a key section of its 1982 report on Euthanasia and Clinical Practice.
Other academics associated with the Centre included John Finnis and John Keown, both of whom were Governors for more than a decade and both of whom contributed to multiple Centre publications (see below).
Anthony Fisher described the centre as “not just as the premier Christian bioethics institute in Britain, but as one of the finest in the world, Christian or secular”.A Fisher, ‘Review of Luke Gormally (ed) Euthanasia, Clinical Practice and the Law’, New Blackfriars, 76, 893 (May 1995): 258-260.
The Anscombe Bioethics Centre was not attached to any Institute of Higher Education but regularly collaborated with St Mary's University in Twickenham and with Blackfriars Hall in Oxford. The Centre hosted lectures, seminars, conferences and courses, often in collaboration with other institutions. It engaged with consultations by governmental and nongovernmental bodies and gave advice to healthcare professionals and others concerned about ethical issues in biomedicine. It produced reports and briefing papers and Centre staff publish books, book chapters and journal articles.
The last Director (January to July 2001 and 2010 to 2025), was Professor David Albert Jones who is also Professor of Bioethics at St Mary's University in Twickenham and research fellow at Blackfriars Oxford Its previous directors were: Helen Watt (2001–2010) Luke Gormally (1981–2000) David Williams (1977–1980) Former academic staff included Teresa Iglesias (Research Fellow 1981–1985), Fred Fitzpatrick (Education and Research Officer 1984–1990), Agneta Sutton (Research Fellow 1986-1989 and Deputy Director 1989–1994), Hugh Henry (Education Officer 2003–2004), Patrick Carr (Education Officer 2005–2006), Anthony McCarthy (Research Fellow 2002–2010), Stephen Barrie (Education and Research Officer 2007–2016), Dr Michael Wee (Education and Research Officer 2016–2021), Dr Chris Wojtulewicz (Education and Research Officer 2021–), and Peter D. Williams (Media and Communications Manager 2021–2023, Media and Communications Advisor 2023–2025).
Publications Euthanasia and Clinical Practice (1982)Euthanasia and Clinical Practice: trends, principles and alternatives (London: Linacre Centre, 1982) Ethics in Nursing Practice (1988)F Fitzpatrick, Ethics in Nursing Practice: Basic Principles and their application (London: Linacre Centre, 1988) IVF and Justice (1990)T Iglesias, IVF and Justice London: Linacre Centre, 1990. Prenatal Diagnosis (1990)A Sutton, Prenatal Diagnosis: Confronting the Ethical Issues (London: Linacre Centre, 1990). The Dependent Elderly (1992)L Gormally (ed), The Dependent Elderly: Autonomy, Justice and Quality of Care (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992). Infertility and Assisted Conception (1993)A Sutton, Infertility and Assisted Conception (London: Linacre Centre 1993). (Published on behalf of the Bioethics Committee of the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales.) Euthanasia, Clinical Practice and the Law (1994)Luke Gormally (ed), Euthanasia, Clinical Practice and the Law (London: Linacre Centre, 1994). Genetic Intervention on Human Subjects (1996)Joint Bishops Bioethics Committee (Helen Watt, secretary), Genetic Intervention on Human Subjects: The Report of a Working Party (London: Linacre Centre, 1996). Issues for a Catholic Bioethic (1999)L Gormally (ed), Issues for a Catholic Bioethic (London: Linacre Centre, 1999). Life and Death in Healthcare Ethics (2000)H Watt, Life and Death in Healthcare Ethics: A Short Introduction (London: Routledge, 2000). Healthcare Allocation (2001)A Fisher and L Gormally (eds), Healthcare Allocation: an ethical framework for public policy (London: Linacre Centre, 2001). Culture of Life – Culture of Death (2002)L Gormally (ed), Culture of Life – Culture of Death (London: Linacre Centre, 2002). Cooperation, Complicity and Conscience (2006)H Watt (ed), Cooperation, Complicity and Conscience. Problems in Healthcare, Science, Law and Public Policy (London: Linacre Centre, 2006). Incapacity and Care (2009)H Watt (ed), Incapacity and Care. Controversies in Healthcare and Research (London: Linacre Centre, 2009). Fertility and Gender (2011)H Watt (ed), Fertility and Gender. Issues in Reproductive and Sexual Ethics (Oxford: Anscombe Centre, 2011). Human Embryo Research (2011)Papers from conference on ‘Human Embryo Research: Law, Ethics and Public Policy’ published in a special issue of Human Reproduction and Genetic Ethics 17.1 (2011). Chimera’s Children (2012)D.A. Jones and C MacKellar (eds), Chimera’s Children: Ethical, Philosophical and Religious Perspectives on Human / Non-human Experimentation (London: Continuum, 2012). On the Ethics of organ transplantation (2014)M Jarmulowicz (chair) D.A. Jones (secretary) et al, On the ethics of organ transplantation: a Catholic perspective The Report of The report of a working party (Oxford: Anscombe Bioethics Centre, 2014.) Thinking Christian ethos (2015)D.A. Jones and S Barrie, Thinking Christian ethos: the meaning of Catholic education (London: CTS, 2015). The Moral Philosophy of Elizabeth Anscombe (2016)Luke Gormally, David Albert Jones, and Roger Teichmann (eds), The Moral Philosophy of Elizabeth Anscombe (St Andrews Studies in Philosophy and Public Affairs) (Imprint Academic, 2016). The Ethics of Pregnancy, Abortion and Childbirth (2016)H Watt, The Ethics of Pregnancy, Abortion and Childbirth (London: Routledge 2016). Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia (2017)D.A. Jones, C Gastmans, and C MacKellar (eds), Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia: Lessons from Belgium (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017).
Notable associates of the centre In addition to a small in-house staff, other academics have been associated with the centre through co-writing, co-editing, or contributing to reports or publications or through acting as governors of the centre, associate research fellows, visiting research fellows, members of the Academic Review Panel or Anscombe Memorial Lecturers. These have included (with reference to notable association though they have also collaborated in other ways): G. E. M. Anscombe – wrote the key section of the 1982 report on Euthanasia and Clinical Practice Professor David Albert Jones Nicanor Austriaco – visiting research fellow 2014; member of working party that produced On the ethics of organ transplantation (2014);M Jarmulowicz (chair) D.A. Jones (secretary) et al, On the ethics of organ transplantation: a Catholic perspective The Report of The report of a working party (Oxford: Anscombe Bioethics Centre, 2014.) Anscombe Memorial Lecturer (2021) John Berry – associate research fellow (1991–2019); contributed to Fertility and Gender (2011)H Watt (ed), Fertility and Gender. Issues in Reproductive and Sexual Ethics (Oxford: Anscombe Centre, 2011). Nigel Biggar – Academic Review Panel (2010–2012) Joseph Boyle – contributed to The Dependent Elderly (1992);L Gormally (ed), The Dependent Elderly: Autonomy, Justice and Quality of Care (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992). Visiting Research Fellow (2010, 2015), Anscombe Memorial Lecturer (2015) Patricia Casey – Anscombe Memorial Lecturer (2018); governor (2019–present) Maureen L. Condic – Anscombe Memorial Lecturer (2019) Willem Eijk – Anscombe Memorial Lecturer (2016) John Finnis – Governor (1981–2007, 2010–2016); contributed to The Dependent Elderly (1992), Euthanasia, Clinical Practice and the Law (1994),Luke Gormally (ed), Euthanasia, Clinical Practice and the Law (London: Linacre Centre, 1994). Issues for a Catholic Bioethic (1999), Culture of Life–Culture of Death (2002),L Gormally (ed), Culture of Life – Culture of Death (London: Linacre Centre, 2002). Cooperation, Complicity & Conscience (2006),H Watt (ed), Cooperation, Complicity and Conscience. Problems in Healthcare, Science, Law and Public Policy (London: Linacre Centre, 2006). Incapacity & Care (2009),H Watt (ed), Incapacity and Care. Controversies in Healthcare and Research (London: Linacre Centre, 2009). and The Moral Philosophy of Elizabeth Anscombe (2016);Luke Gormally and Mary Geach (eds), Faith in a Hard Ground: Essays on Religion, Philosophy and Ethics by G.E.M. Anscombe (2008). Anscombe Memorial Lecturer (2014) Anthony Fisher – Oxford DPhil, supervised by John Finnis, was the basis for Healthcare Allocation 2001;A Fisher and L Gormally (eds), Healthcare Allocation: an ethical framework for public policy (London: Linacre Centre, 2001). contributed to Culture of Life – Culture of Death (2002)L Gormally (ed), Culture of Life – Culture of Death (London: Linacre Centre, 2002). and Cooperation, Complicity and Conscience (2006); Anscombe Memorial Lecturer (2012) Kevin Flannery – contributed to Fertility and Gender (2011)H Watt (ed), Fertility and Gender. Issues in Reproductive and Sexual Ethics (Oxford: Anscombe Centre, 2011). and The Moral Philosophy of Elizabeth Anscombe (2016);Luke Gormally and Mary Geach (eds), Faith in a Hard Ground: Essays on Religion, Philosophy and Ethics by G.E.M. Anscombe (2008). Academic Review Panel (2014–2018) Chris Gastmans – co-edited Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide (2017)H Watt, The Ethics of Pregnancy, Abortion and Childbirth (London: Routledge 2016). and helped organise the conference on which it was based Robert P. George – contributed to Culture of Life–Culture of Death (2002);L Gormally (ed), Culture of Life – Culture of Death (London: Linacre Centre, 2002). Anscombe Memorial Lecturer (2011) John Haldane – contributed to Issues for a Catholic Bioethic (1999);L Gormally (ed), Issues for a Catholic Bioethic (London: Linacre Centre, 1999). Academic Review Panel (2010–2012); general editor for series in which The Moral Philosophy of Elizabeth Anscombe (2016) was published; governor (2022-) Stephan Kampowski – visiting research fellow (2017) Anthony Kenny – Inaugural Anscombe Memorial Lecturer (2010) John Keown – governor (1990–2002); contributed to The Dependent Elderly (1992),L Gormally (ed), The Dependent Elderly: Autonomy, Justice and Quality of Care (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992). Euthanasia, Clinical Practice and the Law (1994)Luke Gormally (ed), Euthanasia, Clinical Practice and the Law (London: Linacre Centre, 1994). and Issues for a Catholic Bioethic (1999);L Gormally (ed), Issues for a Catholic Bioethic (London: Linacre Centre, 1999). Visiting Research Fellow (2011); Academic Review Panel (2018–2021)