LIFE DIGEST: California OKs assisted suicide by ‘backdoor,’ critics say
- Oct 14, 2008
California may have paved the way to the legalization of assisted suicide, critics say.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, signed into law a measure that requires doctors and other healthcare providers to give patients with a terminal illness, or who are believed to have a year or less to live, information about “legal end-of-life options” at the patients’ request, according to Cybercast News Service (CNS). Under the law, doctors must tell such patients about “withholding or withdrawal” of even food and water, CNS reported.
The new law is “a backdoor way” of legalizing assisted suicide in the state, said Randy Thomasson, president of the Sacramento-based Campaign for Children and Families, according to CNS. Terminal patients could be sedated into unconsciousness and die from dehydration several days later, he said.
Kathi Hamlon of the International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide, said she believes the design of the legislation is “to push the assisted suicide agenda.”
“Now what will happen is that after this bill is established as practice in California, [organizations supporting assisted suicide] will argue, ‘Hey look, it’s far more humane to do what Oregon does instead of having to wait 12 to 16 days watching a loved one suffer without food and water. It’s far more humane to offer them a legal prescription,’” Hamlon said after the bill was signed Sept. 30, CNS reported.
Oregon is the only state that has legalized physician-assisted suicide. That state’s law permits doctors to prescribe lethal doses of drugs to terminally patients. Oregon has recorded 341 deaths by assisted suicide since its Death With Dignity Act took effect in late 1997.
Voters in the state of Washington will consider an Oregon-like, assisted-suicide initiative on the ballot in November.
Russian abortion rate more than 64 percent
Abortion ends nearly two-thirds of all pregnancies in Russia, and that astonishing rate reportedly is behind the growing infertility among women of the former Communist country.
The number of infertile Russian women is increasing by 200,000 to 250,000 every year, with complications from abortion the primary cause, a specialist in obstetrics and gynecology said Sept. 29, according to The St. Petersburg (Russia) Times. Marina Tarasova, deputy head of the St. Petersburg Research Institute for Gynecology and Obstetrics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said there were more than 5.5 million Russian couples who were infertile at the end of 2007.
“Over the past five years, female infertility in Russia has increased by 14 percent, and over 1.5 million Russians need advanced medical technology to become pregnant and maintain a healthy pregnancy,” Tarasova said at an international conference in St. Petersburg on oral contraception.
More than 64 percent of all pregnancies in Russia result in abortion, a rate that far exceeds that of Western European countries, which is less than 25 percent, according to The Times.
Russian citizens may receive abortions without charge at government-sponsored clinics, The Times reported. It has been recommended that abortions be made costly to obtain in order to reduce the rate.
Other facts reported by The Times include:
- 10 percent of Russian women who receive abortions are under the age of 18;
- One in four teenage girls has a gynecological problem;
- The rate of girls ages 15 to 17 with a gynecological disease has grown by 30 percent in the last five years.
The staggering rate of abortion brings into question the future of Russia, said R. Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
“What country can live with aborting 64 percent of its babies? How can such a nation survive?” Mohler wrote in his weblog Oct. 6.
“Once a nation takes the Culture of Death into its heart, what rescue is possible?”
Pro-life nurse decries ANA’s Obama endorsement
The American Nurses Association (ANA) has endorsed Democrat Barack Obama for president, and at least one pro-life member is protesting the action.
The board of directors of ANA, which identifies itself as representing the county’s 2.9 million registered nurses, voted Sept. 10 to endorse Obama and announced its “Nurses for Obama-Biden” website Sept. 29.
Obama supports abortion rights. If elected president, the U.S. senator from Illinois has pledged to sign the Freedom of Choice Act, which would repeal current restrictions on abortion.
“I feel disenfranchised by ANA after having been a member for more than three decades,” May-Kate Heffern told LifeNews.com. “It is obvious that, among other things, our professional organization has eliminated the unborn as legitimately entitled to this standard of care, beginning with the most basic, life itself.”
Heffern is a member of the board of directors of the National Association of Pro-life Nurses, according to LifeNews.
Students prepare for Day of Silent Solidarity
Hundreds of thousands of students in the United States and other countries are expected to participate in a day of silent protest against abortion Oct. 21.
For the fifth year, the Pro-life Day of Silent Solidarity will be observed to give young people the opportunity to identify with the victims of abortion by fulfilling a vow of silence for a day. Students will wear red duct tape on their mouths and/or red armbands. They will have informational handouts available to give those who ask about the observance. Home-schooled students are expected to take part by distributing information at shopping malls and other public venues.
Last year, students on more than 4,600 campuses in 19 countries took part in the event, according to Stand True Ministries, which sponsors the annual protest.
“The students are speaking loud and clear; they want an end to legalized child killing,” Stand True President Bryan Kemper said in a written release. “We are getting thousands of emails, comments and Internet messages from students thanking us for giving them a peaceful way to stand up and be counted.”
Information on the event is available online at www.silentday.org.
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