LIFE DIGEST: Quebec strongly favors euthanasia
- Aug 31, 2010 -
More than 70 percent of the residents of Quebec support the legalization of euthanasia and assisted suicide, according to a recent survey.
The Montreal Gazette reported Aug. 22 that 71 percent of respondents said “yes” to the following question: “Do you believe decriminalizing euthanasia and assisted suicide is the right way to help people die with dignity?” Only 16 percent said “no,” and 13 percent said they were undecided. The poll was conducted for the newspaper.
Also in this edition: Alaska voters OK parental notification, Majority opposes government funds for destructive embryo research, and Nonreligious doctors twice as likely to hasten death, survey shows.
Canadian law forbids euthanasia and assisted suicide, but a Quebec provincial committee will solicit public comment in September on the legalization of both, according to The Gazette.
Linda Couture, director of Living With Dignity, said people may support euthanasia because they fail to recognize there is a distinction between avoiding pain and seeking death.
“The perception of people who are underperforming in society – who are considered a burden to society because hospital beds are full – it seems that we want to get rid of people easily by giving up on them when they need us the most,” Couture said, according to The Gazette. “This is a symptom that the system is giving up on its elderly. This is the ultimate abuse.”
In euthanasia, a physician administers a lethal dose of drugs that takes a patient’s life. In assisted suicide, a doctor does not administer a fatal dose but prescribes drugs for a patient to use in taking his own life.
Alaska voters OK parental notification
Alaska’s voters approved a ballot initiative Aug. 24 that requires parental notification for a minor to obtain an abortion. Ballot Measure 2 was approved by a margin of 55 to 44 percent.
The new law is the 30th effective parental involvement measure being enforced, according to the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC).
The law requires a doctor to notify a parent before performing an abortion on a female under 18. It provides a girl with the option of seeking a judicial bypass or of providing a notarized statement from an adult relative or authorized official who is aware of abuse in the home.
“This is a big victory for parents and young girls,” said Mary Spaulding Balch, NRLC’s director of state legislation. “These laws protect young girls – after all, who would know their medical histories and care more about them than their own parents?”
Majority opposes government funds for destructive embryo research
Nearly 60 percent of American voters oppose government funding of stem cell research that destroys embryos, but only 24 percent believe such experimentation is morally wrong, according to a new poll.
Rasmussen Reports said Aug. 27 that 57 percent of respondents believe only private contributions should fund embryonic stem cell research (ESCR).
On the question of ESCR’s morality, while 24 percent say it is wrong, 54 percent say it is not wrong and 21 percent are uncertain.
The poll showed a vast gulf between what Rasmussen describes as the “Political Class” and “Mainstream voters.” Seventy-three percent of the “Political Class,” which includes political and business leaders and those who tend to trust them, support government funding of ESCR, but 70 percent of “Mainstream voters” oppose it, according to Rasmussen.
On Aug. 23, a federal judge in the District of Columbia temporarily blocked enforcement of the federal government’s guidelines for funding ESCR. Those guidelines were based on a 2009 executive order by President Obama.
Nonreligious doctors twice as likely to hasten death, survey shows
A survey of British physicians shows those who are atheistic or agnostic are nearly two times as likely as religious doctors to make decisions that will hasten the deaths of their terminally ill patients.
The poll of more than 3,700 English doctors showed those who considered themselves as “extremely” or “very nonreligious” were almost twice as likely to have taken actions such as continuous deep sedation, which can speed up a patient’s demise, according to the Associated Press.
Clive Seale, a professor at Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry who conducted the survey, said “nonreligious doctors should confess their predilections to their patients” to make certain physicians are making decisions in line with those patients’ desires, AP reported.
The British Medical Association’s guidelines say doctors are not to permit their religious beliefs to interfere with their care of patients, according to AP
Britain’s National Council for Palliative Care underwrote the survey.
The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission works to protect the sanctity of human life. If you would like to learn more about this issue, additional resources are available here. Our free, downloadable Impact resource is also available online. If your church is interested in purchasing materials on the sanctity of human life, please visit our online bookstore and erlc.com
Further Learning
Learn more about: Life, Abortion, End-of-Life Issues, Stem-Cell Research, Suicide, Citizenship,