Category: Euthanasia

By Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition As I have written before, the euthanasia lobby will promote “safeguards”–or “limits”–to assisted dying laws to sell its legalization to the public. However, once they succeed, the death lobby will soon promote the expansion of the law. For instance, the first legal challenge to Canada’s euthanasia law …

Editor’s note. The Luxembourg update was published by the Australian Care Alliance and reposted by the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition. Euthanasia and assisted suicide has been legal in Luxembourg since 2009. The person requesting euthanasia or assisted suicide must have a serious, incurable and irreversible affliction which leads to unbearable physical or mental suffering. The sixth biennial report by the …

By Branka van der Linden, Director, HOPE  Editor’s note. This article was published by HOPE Australia on April 29 and reposted by the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition. New South Wales [a state in Australia] woman Barbara Eckersley has been found not guilty of murder, and guilty only of the lesser charge of manslaughter, after putting lethal drugs in …

By Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition Convivium published an excellent article written by Kiely Williams, a Calgary physician, and Faye Sonier, an Ottawa lawyer, titled “Open Wide and Say Law.” Williams and Sonier explain how Bill C-7 expanded Canada’s euthanasia law [MAID—Medical Aid In Dying]  in ways that physicians would not dare to …

By Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition  Senay Boztas reported for the Dutchnews.nl that there were more euthanasia deaths in the Netherlands in 2020 than ever before.  According to the Netherlands euthanasia report there were 6,938 reported euthanasia deaths in 2020 up by 9% from 6,361 in 2019. Boztas reported: All but two of these were …

By Wesley J. Smith It used to be that psychiatrists and psychologists strived to prevent mentally ill people from committing suicide. Now, a blog post by Canadian psychiatrist Ralph Lewis published in Psychology Today — of all places — understands that allowing the mentally ill to be euthanized could have a deleterious impact on suicide-prevention efforts. But what …

By Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition When selling euthanasia (Medical Aid in Dying–MAiD) to the Canadian public, we were assured that consent would be a fundamental protection within the legislation.  I have been challenged by people who have stated: “Who am I to stand in the way of someone who has consented to …

By Scott Fischbach Five years ago, MCCL Global Outreach (MCCL GO)—a program of Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life—launched an effort to draw attention to the human rights abuses of euthanasia by participating in the United Nations’ UPR process. The UPR (“universal periodic review”) is a mechanism set up by the UN’s Human Rights Council to …

By Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition The Associated Press reported that on Tuesday the Chilean Chamber of Deputies approved an euthanasia bill, sending it to the Senate for the next stage. The AP quoted pro-government lawmaker Leónidas Romero who said  the leftist Broad Front and the Communist Party, which promoted the bill, “are suffering from …

By Michael Cook The Colombian legislature has once again failed to pass a law legalising euthanasia. Earlier this week a bill proposed by representative Juan Fernando Reyes Kuri needed to reach 85 votes in favour, but fell two votes short. Although Colombia is often described as a country where euthanasia is legal, the actual situation …

By Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition Bill C-7 passed into law on March 17, thereby expanding Canada’s euthanasia (MAiD) law to include people with mental illness alone.  Passage came in spite of robust opposition from the Canadian Mental Health Association. Stephanie Davis, reporting for CTV News Regina, interviewed Phyllis O’Connor, the Executive Director …

By Michael Cook  France: A bill to legalise euthanasia was defeated by delaying tactics in the French Parliament this week. The bill was a personal initiative of Olivier Falorni, a deputy for the parliamentary splinter group Libertes et Territoires (“Freedom and Territories”). He says that the law would put a stop to a national “hypocrisy” …