LIFE DIGEST: Euthanize the kids and old folks, Belgian proposes
- Mar 31, 2008 - comment
Not enough parents can euthanize their children and not enough people can perform physician-assisted suicide to satisfy some Belgium politicians.
Bart Tommelein, leader of the Liberal Party in Belgium’s coalition government, has promised to introduce legislation to expand euthanasia to terminally ill children, as well as the elderly who have severe dementia, according to the Telegraph, a British newspaper. He also will propose that teenagers be able to choose assisted suicide.
The proposals, bioethics specialist Wesley Smith wrote on the weblog bioethics.com, demonstrate what he has often said – “euthanasia consciousness leads to the bottomless pit.”
“[W]e see that under euthanasia consciousness, even ‘choice’ eventually takes a back seat to death as the answer to human suffering,” said Smith, a lawyer for the International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide. “It’s as plain as day: In the words of the late Dutch euthanasia opponent, Dr. Karl Gunning, once killing is seen as the answer to one problem, it soon becomes the answer to 100.”
Belgium law now permits euthanasia for infants and assisted suicide for adults more than 18 years of age, the Telegraph reported.
More than half of the babies in Belgium who die before they are a year old are killed by euthanasia, according to the newspaper. About 40 incidents of euthanasia are reported by Belgian doctors each month, but the actual amount is estimated to be twice that figure, the Telegraph reported.
Belgium and The Netherlands are the only European countries that permit euthanasia and assisted suicide. Those practices are generally permitted in Switzerland, even though they are illegal.
Euthanasia occurs when someone other than the person who dies performs the final act that causes death, according to the International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide. Assisted suicide takes place when the person who dies commits the last act, such as taking a lethal dose of drugs, the task force says.
High court turns back pro-life sheriff
The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to consider an Arizona sheriff’s request he not be forced to take jail inmates to clinics for elective abortions.
The high court announced March 24 it had rejected an appeal by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio after two Arizona courts ruled his office must provide transportation for abortions, The Arizona Republic reported.
“I’m disappointed,” Arpaio said, according to The Republic. “We fought the good fight. I still don’t agree that we should take females on a voluntary basis to an abortion. I’m still against that. But we took it to the highest court, and we’ll see what happens if the situation comes before me again in the jail system.”
In 2004, Arpaio’s office refused to transport a prisoner to a previously scheduled abortion without a court order, the newspaper reported. The court order was issued, and the inmate had an abortion. The American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona sued in order to protect the abortion rights of future prisoners.
The U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals handed a defeat to a similar policy in Missouri prisons in January. The appeals court upheld a federal judge’s 2006 ruling that the policy violated the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which includes “due process” and “equal protection” rights.
Study may aid abortion limit in Great Britain
New data that shows hundreds of babies are surviving extremely early births may boost pro-life efforts to lower the maximum time limit for abortions in Great Britain.
The Department of Health released a report showing more than 900 children were born between 22 and 24 weeks into pregnancy in 2005. Of those babies, 250 survived for at least a year, the Telegraph reported March 27.
The British Parliament may vote as early as April on a measure to roll back the maximum time limit for abortions “for social reasons” from 24 weeks to 20 weeks, according to the London newspaper. Parliament established the 24-week limit in 1990.
Proponents of the legislation say advances in neo-natal care since 1990 have enabled babies to survive earlier than before, meaning the limit should be lowered.
“Even more viable babies are being aborted than these figures would suggest,” said Tory Nadine Dorries, who supports the measure, according to the Telegraph. “If you go into [labor] at 22 weeks, there is something wrong with you or your baby. Most babies aborted at 22 weeks are healthy, so their survival chances would be even higher.”
A February-released study at University College London Hospital showed one-third of children born between 22 and 25 weeks into pregnancy survived in the early 1980s while 71 percent did so in the late 1990s, the Telegraph reported.
St. Louis Archdiocese stands strong on Komen
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis has reiterated a position statement discouraging support for Susan G. Komen for the Cure only days after the Diocese of Little Rock, Ark., backtracked on such a stance.
The St. Louis Archdiocese said in a March 11 document its Respect Life Apostolate “neither supports nor encourages” involvement in events that benefit Komen for the Cure, which is a leading fundraising organization that promotes breast cancer research, prevention and treatment. The Archdiocese, which first took the position in 2006, said its refusal to endorse participation in the charity is based on:
— Komen’s policy permitting its affiliates to provide grants to Planned Parenthood chapters;
— Komen’s endorsement of stem cell research that destroys embryos;
— Komen’s denial of a link between abortion and breast cancer.
The Little Rock Diocese had issued a similar statement citing the same three reasons Feb. 4 but reversed itself March 6. Gaston Hebert, the diocesan administrator, withdrew the statement after visiting with Komen officials.
Planned Parenthood chapters in at least 13 states received funding from Komen for the Cure in 2005, according to the St. Louis statement. Despite the grants, Planned Parenthood said in its 2005-06 report its affiliates performed 9,900 more abortions and 81,500 fewer breast exams in 2005 than in 2004, the St. Louis Archdiocese reported.
Planned Parenthood Federation of America is the country’s largest abortion provider. Its affiliates performed more than 289,000 abortions in 2006, the most recent year for which there are records.
Komen for the Cure sponsors five-kilometer runs/walks in cities across the country, with more than 1 million participants each year in the fundraising events.
Abortion doctor given 20 years in death of wife
Notorious abortion doctor Malachy DeHenre has been sentenced to 20 years in prison in the shooting death of his wife.
A Mississippi county judge gave DeHenre the maximum sentence for manslaughter March 13, the Laurel (Miss.) Leader-Call reported. Ten years ago, DeHenre’s first trial in his wife’s 1997 death ended in a mistrial, according to the report.
DeHenre – whose medical licenses were suspended in Alabama, Mississippi and New York – left a trail of damaged women from his abortion practice. An Alabama patient died 18 hours after he did an abortion on her, and women in three other cases had hysterectomies after suffering uterine perforation during DeHenre-performed abortions, according to LifeNews.com.
Malta rejects European council’s call to legalize abortion
The Republic of Malta says it will not bow to pressure from the Council of Europe (CoE) to legalize abortion.
A CoE committee approved a non-binding resolution calling for all member countries to drop restrictions on a woman’s right to choose an abortion, the Times of Malta reported March 23. Malta, which is located in the Mediterranean Sea, is one of four CoE members that have not legalized abortion. The others are Andorra, Ireland and Poland, according to the Times.
The CoE, which has 47 members and is separate from the European Union, will meet in mid-April to discuss the resolution, the newspaper reported.
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