Are We Ready To Provide Assisted Suicide to Mature Minors - Even Those Who Are Physically Healthy?
/by Tim Scatliff
"The government’s attempt to expand euthanasia to include advance directives, as well as extending it to situations in which death is not reasonably foreseeable, is deeply troubling. Further attempts to make it available to mature minors, the mentally ill, and the cognitively impaired are evidence that the current safeguards are inadequate and can be legally challenged and overturned. One cannot help but see the parallels between euthanasia and assisted suicide with that of abortion."
- Archbishop Richard Gagnon: Jan. 31, 2020, in a letter to the Federal Government.
Consider the words "mature minor" and "the mentally ill". Who gets assisted suicide and who gets suicide prevention. What is the definition of mature minor? Does a minor just have to find a medical professional or psychologist who would declare the minor as "mature"? This situation is similar as to when abortion was liberalized. A woman just needed two doctors to agree that the abortion can go ahead. There was a qualification that the life of the mother had to be threatened by the pregnancy. Very quickly, the word "life" was used to mean anything from an interruption in her education or career, or to lifestyle. And that quickly changed to any reason throughout the full 9 months, as it stands today in Canada.
It wasn't long before abortion was called a "health service", one in which a minor did not even need to get parental permission to have an abortion. Now it's called "reproductive health". It's not hard to see this same slippery slope happening with euthanasia and assisted suicide.
This "mature minor" may be one of our children or grandchildren - a niece or nephew - a neighbour.
As is pointed out in the book, "A Guide To Discussing Assisted Suicide", if someone with cancer is standing on the edge of the bridge – do you give them a push or do you pull them back?
Consider some possible scenarios: someone with a disability gets discouraged with life. They challenge the courts and assisted suicide and euthanasia are extended to the disabled. Soon, these "health services" become a patient's "right".
The wish to die comes at times when we need help and attention, not options on how to end our life.
Another possible scenario: someone is just tired of life - they're lonely. Perhaps they are just getting old - why not just bow out? It's beginning to happen now in Belgium, with government support.
The high cost of healthcare, the limited capacity of our healthcare system, and the limited access to palliative care fuels this culture of death.
On February 24, Canada's federal government introduced Bill C-7, an act to amend the Criminal Code for broader access to MAiD. Let your MP, the Minister of Justice, and the Prime Minister know where you stand on the issue.
If you haven’t read Archbishop Gagnon‘s letter to the Canadian government, it’s a must read. Read it here http://bit.ly/cccb2PM.
