The Euthanasia debate is starting to heat up again in little old New Zealand. Expert, Paul Russell of Hope: Preventing Euthanasia and Suicide, has just this week completed a speaking tour discussing and presenting on the issue. This was a joint effort from a few prolife groups, but mostly Euthanasia Debate, a local anti euthanasia organisation.
Reading an informative article this morning about the prolife protests of the 70′s and 80′s gave me a idea of what our society would look like in forty odd years if we legalise euthanasia today in NZ. The generations before the liberalisation of abortion laws could not have envisioned the huge numbers of aborted babies that we currently have. Potentially, we are now those generations in regards to euthanasia.
An experpt from the above article…
During the sit-in one young woman left the clinic in tears. Her name was Linda and she met my friend Brigid among those picketing outside. Linda didn’t really want an abortion. Like many women, she felt forced by her circumstances. She told Brigid she knew the clinic staff were lying to her when they said the baby was “just a clump of cells.”
An experpt from from an article in the future of NZ…
During the sit-in one elderly woman left the clinic in tears. Her name was Linda and she met my friend Brigid among those picketing outside. Linda didn’t really want to be euthanased. Like many elderly people, she felt forced by her circumstances and her family. She told Brigid she knew the clinic staff were lying to her when they said that this would end all the suffering and troubles of her and her family.”
The most recent case of euthanasia recounted by the media has been the identical twins aged about 43 in Belgium. They were both deaf and now were losing their sight. It was newsworthy it seemed because they had no terminal condition.
What was reported (which I thought rather subtle and influential) was their journey to their deaths. It was said that they ‘spoke to the chaplain’ (I presume one connected to some medical facility)and ‘that was very important to them’. It seemed to convey acceptance and confirmation of their choice by the ‘chaplain’ before they sent themselves into eternity.
The act seemed to be sanctioned as ‘good’….as I heard it anyway.
Another place I have come across euthansia support is in the Grey Power magazine. !!!
We have a strange conflict over what freedom is I think. The power of choice by an unfettered will seems to be the highest notion of a ‘good’ choice.