Category: Euthanasia & Assisted Suicide

One Third of Evangelicals Believe Suicide is Moral for the Incurably Ill?
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One Third of Evangelicals Believe Suicide is Moral for the Incurably Ill?

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In the January/February edition of Christianity Today (they called themselves CT now) a small article caught my eye. It was entitled  “More evangelicals see suicide as moral.” Really? According to the Pew Research Center, 1 in 3 evangelicals who worship weekly think that “a person has a “moral right” to suicide if, they are “in […]

New Mexico Court Ruling on Assisting Suicide Endangers the Vulnerable
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New Mexico Court Ruling on Assisting Suicide Endangers the Vulnerable

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On Monday, Judge Nan G. Nash of the Second District Court in Albuquerque struck the decades-old New Mexico law which protected the state’s citizens from assisted suicide. Ruling in a lawsuit brought by the ACLU of New Mexico and Compassion & Choices, Judge Nash concluded that that killing a terminally ill patient with that person’s […]

Wrong-Headed Ethics and Mayhem
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Wrong-Headed Ethics and Mayhem

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Last year, the Journal of Medical Ethics published an article entitled “After-Birth Abortion: Why Should the Baby Live?” Central to the paper’s thesis is the position that “the moral status of an infant is equivalent to that of a fetus, that is, neither can be considered a ‘person’ in a morally relevant sense.” The paper further poses the preposterous […]

Belgian Senate Passes Bill Permitting Doctors to Euthanize Children
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Belgian Senate Passes Bill Permitting Doctors to Euthanize Children

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In 50-17 vote yesterday, the Belgian Senate approved a bill that would allow euthanasia for children.  The bill now goes to the House of Representatives for final approval before being sent to the King to be signed into law. Most political observers are predicting the passage of the bill. Currently the law in Belgium allows […]

Belgium’s Culture of Death
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Belgium’s Culture of Death

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If you want to see what happens when a society enthusiastically swallows the euthanasia poison, look at Belgium. Perhaps influenced by its neighbor the Netherlands — which pioneered euthanasia permissiveness — Belgium legalized euthanasia in 2002. The country has since leaped head-first off a vertical moral cliff. As usual, when the law was being debated, […]

Pope Francis: ‘Dark Future’ If Children & Elderly Abandoned
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Pope Francis: ‘Dark Future’ If Children & Elderly Abandoned

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The family founded on marriage is the “natural center of human life” and protecting children and elderly people is a “choice of civilization,” Pope Francis said in an address Friday morning. Speaking to the 21 plenary meeting of the Pontifical Council for the Family, the pope said, “Children and the elderly represent the two poles […]

Caring for Life Near the End of Life
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Caring for Life Near the End of Life

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My wife, LaRee, and I were asked to address a conference about critical life issues sponsored by the Diocese of Metuchen in New Jersey. They wanted us to speak about a Christian perspective on suffering, disability and end of life care. It is a timely topic because New Jersey is considering a law to allow […]

Mercifully Killing Our Cat
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Mercifully Killing Our Cat

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A few days ago, a dear friend and fellow pro-life warrior Ione Whitlock, author of the Belbury Review blog, sent me this e-mail: I took my cat to the vet for a checkup. While I waited to be seen, I noticed an elderly couple apparently also waiting. We struck up a conversation. The woman was […]

Woman Legally Euthanized in Belgium Over Depression After Sex Change
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Woman Legally Euthanized in Belgium Over Depression After Sex Change

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A 44-year-old Belgian woman struggling with gender confusion has been legally euthanized after her sex change procedure was botched, resulting in physical deformities she said made her look like “a monster.” Nancy Verhelst was killed last Monday by the same team of doctors who euthanized Marc and Eddy Verbessem, 45-year-old deaf twins who asked to […]

Preying on the Disabled
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Preying on the Disabled

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I came across a headline that posed a bold idea: Killing MS Patients VIA Assisted Suicide to Harvest their Organs? As a theoretical question for provocative bioethicists to ponder or advocate, it may be interesting, but I live in the real world far from academia. The real world is being asked to answer that very […]

The Importance of Language in Changing the Culture
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The Importance of Language in Changing the Culture

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For forty-one years Human Life International has been engaged in building a Culture of Life through education and activism. Though we have been blessed with success in many of our efforts, we have also faced numerous difficulties. One of these difficulties is one we share with all who defend life, faith and family: As cultural […]

Imposing Death With Quality Control Standards
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Imposing Death With Quality Control Standards

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We’ve all heard the “quality of life” argument applied to everything from an excuse for abortion to the reason posited to justify assisted suicide or some other form of euthanasia. Ongoing debates relating to various segments of Obama’s national health care law—the Affordable Care Act—challenge us to sort out and explain the problematic nature of using a slide rule […]

Providing Support Services for Life With Dignity
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Providing Support Services for Life With Dignity

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In my little corner of the world (Alberta, Canada) there is an issue raging about government cutbacks to support services for people with severe disabilities. Disabled Albertans feel threatened — and with good reason. Many of the support services that will be cut provide personal daily care that will directly impact the ability of disabled people to function, […]

The Measure of Humanity
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The Measure of Humanity

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Pope Benedict writes in Spe salvi, “The true measure of humanity is essentially determined in relationship to suffering and to the sufferer.” These words recently took on new meaning for me as I encountered the story of Edwarda O’Bara, who passed away at the age of 59 in late November. In January 1970 Edwarda slipped into […]

Doctor Executioners
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Doctor Executioners

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If we could count the ways that physicians have become the politicians of their chosen profession, perhaps we would better understand why human lives are like poker chips, popular votes or, even worse, trash. Lest we forget, when the ballyhoo started in Texas and Senator Wendy Davis began her infamous filibuster, the question before the […]

'Exit International' Founder Briefly Detained Before Holding UK Suicide Workshops
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‘Exit International’ Founder Briefly Detained Before Holding UK Suicide Workshops

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Australia’s leading euthanasia advocate, Dr. Philip Nitschke, was detained on Sunday night at London’s Gatwick Airport as he was attempting to enter the UK. He was held for over two hours overnight but eventually allowed to proceed. Dr. Nitschke has arrived to conduct his European “Nitro & Nembutal” workshops and speaking tour teaching people how […]

200,000+ People Join Pope Francis for Mass Celebrating <em>Evangelium Vitae</em>
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200,000+ People Join Pope Francis for Mass Celebrating Evangelium Vitae

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Hundreds of thousands gathered in St. Peter’s Square and down the main Roman street that leads to the Vatican Sunday to join Pope Francis in celebrating a Mass commemorating Pope John Paul II’s 1995 famous encyclical, the ‘Gospel of Life.’ Known by it’s Latin name ‘Evangelium Vitae’, the encyclical clearly enunciated the evil of abortion, […]

Personal Freedom and the Common Good
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Personal Freedom and the Common Good

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On June 5th 2007 George Delury (74) committed suicide. For those readers who don’t remember him, Delury gained notoriety for the 1995 assisting the suicide of his wife, Myrna Lebov (52) at their Manhattan apartment. Although euthanasia advocates initially expressed confidence that Lebov had not been coerced, nothing could have been further from the truth. […]

ECHR: The Way Toward a Right to Assisted Suicide
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ECHR: The Way Toward a Right to Assisted Suicide

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Through the judgment of Alda Gross v. Switzerland (No. 67810/10), given on May 14, 2013, the Second Section of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) completed the edification of an individual right to assisted suicide (that is to say, consenting euthanasia) in the name of the right to the respect of private life guaranteed […]

Assisting Suicide Promoted in Large Number of States
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Assisting Suicide Promoted in Large Number of States

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Although assisting suicide is only legal for a small fraction of the world’s population, advocates are in high gear promoting this dangerous legislation in several states.  Currently, doctor-prescribed suicide is legal in only two states–Oregon and Washington–and may have some legal protection in the state of Montana, due to a court decision. The assisting-suicide advocacy groups, […]

Messaging
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Messaging

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Overwhelmed by messages that come through texting, e-mails, the computer, and various apps on phones and iPads, today’s culture seems to be missing something. It is slowly becoming obvious that people are losing the ability to think, hear, and understand. Life seems to revolve around sending and receiving, even when the substance is totally lacking. […]

Two Inspirational Families
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Two Inspirational Families

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As I write this in mid-March I look forward to soon being with two special families, who because of the depth of their love for a family member, found themselves in the midst of an international spotlight they did not seek, and a fierce conflict they did not shirk. They are the families of Terri […]

Book Reveals Shocking Truth About Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide in Europe
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Book Reveals Shocking Truth About Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide in Europe

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A new book by Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (EPC), challenges the myth that  vulnerable people are not at risk under euthanasia and assisted suicide legislation. Using only data gathered from peer reviewed journal articles and studies, Schadenberg proves this assertion false in Exposing Vulnerable People to Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide, published in […]

Pope Benedict and the Cause of Life
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Pope Benedict and the Cause of Life

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It was a surprising announcement indeed that Pope Benedict made this week. Of course, a Pope has the authority to say he will no longer be the Pope. But this will certainly be a new experience for the Church in our day. Having worked in the Vatican, it also raises some interesting protocol questions in […]