WhatFinger


Pushing back against the tide of assisted suicide legislation

Euthanasia pushes forward in Scotland, while a new Brussels group pushes back



Margo MacDonald, an Independent member of the Scottish Parliament, has re-introduced legislation to legalize assisted suicide in Scotland for anyone aged 16 and over. Ms. MacDonald, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease, previously introduced the bill in 2010 when it was soundly defeated 85-16.
Speaking on the new legislation she said "Do I think it has got a chance? Yes I do actually. I have sensed from the beginning that there was a change because of the volume of support that we can demonstrate, I am pretty sure of that. (In 2010) we were in the run-up to a general election. Well, we're totally free of that now. People can just vote according to their own judgement. I know that there are people who believe that if they get to the stage where life is absolutely intolerable because of pain and indignity ... they would like to end their life before nature intended, and we think they should have the choice to do so." MacDonald has done well to form a coalition of support this time around. They include the anti-God Humanist Society of Scotland, retired GP Dr Bob Scott, Reverend Scott McKenna and Silvan Luley of the Swiss assisted dying organisation Dignitas. Also appearing as an advocate is attorney Niall McCluskey who is part of the ‘Black Chambers‘ legal organization. Luley stated that “It is an atrocity that the Scottish citizen has to leave his country, his bed, his home to travel abroad to have a dignified, self-determined end of life if he wishes to do so, and this has to change." It seems that Mr. Luley is unaware that Scotland is still part of Britain, pending a vote on independence next year.

Support Canada Free Press


Opposition to the bill is multi faceted from the purely medical rebuttals to the religious advocacy on the sanctity of life. Dr Calum MacKellar, director of the Scottish council on human bioethics stated: "Assisted suicide is unnecessary since physical suffering can now be adequately alleviated in all but the rarest cases by appropriate palliative care. And even in the very exceptional cases where physical suffering does not fully respond to treatment there is the possibility of using artificial transient or (very occasionally) total permanent sedation in patients to keep them asleep in order to address physical and/or mental distress." Those who have seen the suffering of a person near the end may find that a bit too clinical but the ethical arguments against euthanasia remain unchanged. Dr. Steven Hutchison, who works in palliative care (relief of pain, symptoms & stress from illness) said: “Once again Margo MacDonald is revealing how little she really knows about the clinical care of people who are seriously ill. Killing people has always been wrong, and it remains wrong. We can do much better than that in a properly caring society.” Pushing back against the tide of assisted suicide legislation, which has already engulfed the four contiguous nations of Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands & Switzerland; is the newly formed Euthanasia Prevention Coalition. This organization is an umbrella group that brings together the various groups that campaign to protect end of life. Within this grouping is the organization Care Not Killing, whose director Dr Peter Saunders cautioned: “The right to die can so easily become the duty to die and vulnerable people who are sick, elderly or disabled will inevitably feel pressure, whether real or imagined, to end their lives so as not to be a burden on others.” The push for euthanasia is like the campaign for Gay-marriage. Proponents peck, peck, peck away at the issue slowly turning public opinion. In the beginning the arguments seems so compassionate, the old liberal line of just wanting to help people. But as always following the first wave are more sweeping overhauls of society. The woodpecker starts out by just putting a hole in the tree, but unchecked he can eventually knock it over. The Scottish bill is loaded with safeguards but as we’ve seen in the European countries that have legalized this, the push is constantly to expand who can receive legally assisted suicide and also to expand the qualifying circumstances. According to Christian Concern, the Euthanasia Prevention council will “highlight cases of euthanasia in Belgium including those of Mark and Eddy Verbessem, the 45-year-old deaf identical twins, who were euthanised by the Belgian state, after their eyesight began to fail; and the case of Nathan/Nancy Verhelst, whose life was ended in front of TV cameras, after a series of botched sex-change operations. His mother said she hated girls, found her child ‘so ugly’ at birth and did not mourn his death. And the case of Ann G, who had anorexia and who opted to have her life ended after being sexually abused by the psychiatrist who was supposed to be treating her for the life-threatening condition.”

In the Netherlands disabled new-born babies are now euthanised

In the Netherlands disabled new-born babies are now euthanised under the Groningen Protocol, on grounds of "their perceived future suffering, or that of their parents". This includes babies with spina bifida up to 28 days of age. As Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, of the UK’s House of Lords said: "If that had existed in the UK when I was born there is a possibility that I would not be alive now. I would never have been allowed to experience life and my daughter might never have been born." Euthanasia is poised to become as destructive to life as abortion-rights and as changing to society as gay-marriage. The line must not only be drawn in the sand but the whole concept must be as vociferously opposed as it is supported by its proponents. Britain should demand that the practice is not tolerable in the EU, unfortunately its current political leadership is far too concerned with social acceptance and appeasement. Subsequently people must take it upon themselves to act. educating themselves and others as well as supporting those that are willing to advocate for the right changes.


View Comments

David C. Jennings -- Bio and Archives

David Jennings is an ex-pat Brit. living in California.

A Christian Minister he advocates for Traditional & Conservative causes.

David is also an avid fan of Liverpool Football Club and writes for the supporters club in America

David Jennings can be found on Twitter
His blog can be read here


Sponsored