Up until now the subject has been protecting life at its earliest stage. But human life nowadays is also being threatened at its latest stage. The "poor-choice" camp call it the "right to die with dignity". (Notice - we have the right to life, they have the right to death.) The medical term for it - assisted suicide or euthanasia. Alex Schadenburg, Executive Director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition gave us the overview of this relatively new development in the culture of death. Those who promote it, claim this is an issue of personal autonomy. But euthanasia requires another person to carry it out, therefore the belief that this is a matter of personal autonomy is false. Just as abortion, euthanasia is a matter of radical autonomy, when a person believes that others must submit to his desires even if they don't want to.
Alex mentioned how euthanasia supporters try to manipulate the statistics. (In Oregon, over 80% of the 'doctors' who give out deadly prescriptions aren't present at death and try to write off those deaths as accidents.) We've found out that in Netherlands, there are numerous cases when euthanasia is carried out without official consent, based on mere assumption that the patient "wouldn't really want to live like that". There are plenty of facts to prove that once euthanasia is legal, safeguards will make no sense. In Netherlands, euthanasia is no longer viewed as measure to "end the suffering" in the event of terminal illness. It's been expanded to broader range of people, such as infants born with disabilities, mentally depressed/suicidal etc. Sadly, there are groups that trying to expand it even further - to all those they believe are unfit for this world.
And one more thing Alex told us. The "dying with dignity" organization claimed they are associated with the Hospice and Palliative Care association. Alex urged us to check with our local branch to see if those claims are truthful.
Then Samantha Singson gave us the overview of the fight for the right to life at the United Nations. People who represent the countries at the UN are not elected. Yet UN treaties are binding to all UN members. Samantha told us how the anti-family activists are trying to sneak the right to abortions on demand into the international treaties and how non-binding observations are pushed forward as guidelines for dropping all the restrictions on abortions - under a threat of cutting foreign aid. Unfortunately, Canada's role in that battle is negative. It almost seems like Canada uses the UN as some sort of a trash can where our homegrown anti-family activists get dumped once they are finally voted out of power or retire from the courts. Among Canada's "achievements" - sneaking in the concepts of so called "sexual orientation" and "reproductive health services", blocking the Security Council resolution, condemning September 11 attacks, because it mentioned the right to life and even refusing to support a resolution against sex-selection abortions - just so they can keep abortions on demand not only legal, but unrestricted.
What could the pro-life movement do to turn the tide? Samantha suggests we demand accountability from elected officials. If we have a pro-life government at home, we won't have anti-family radicals representing us abroad. We must demand responsibility on foreign aid, to ensure that our donations are used to save lives, not to destroy them. We must keep ourselves informed and spread the word. Not many of our opponents can handle the truth, let alone being able to argue against it. And finally - we must pray.
(To be continued...)
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