BOGOTA, Colombia (CWN) – The Colombian Conference of Catholic bishops (CEC) May 26 energetically condemned “the embarrassing and absurd” approval of a law that makes this Latin American country the first to legalize euthanasia. Archbishop Alberto Giraldo, president of the bishop’s conference, said: “Such a law is a legal absurdity and a human monstrosity,” since “no one has the right to decide [...]
Video In Review Euthanasia: False Light Produced by the International Anti-Euthanasia Task Force Available from Life Cycle Books, 416-690-5860 1995, 15 minutes, $29.95 Denny Brace found a new oncologist when his first one coldly predicted he’d be dead in 12 months. Denny went through chemotherapy and now, three years later, with his pain under control, he jogs, lifts weights and works part-time [...]
How, by allowing early abortions, does compromise provide ammunition for euthanasia? J.S. Mississauga Charles E. Rice, Professor of Law at Notre Dame Law School points to this danger in No Exceptions: A Pro-Life Imperative. The danger is a “functional definition of personhood,” according to which, “You will be treated as a person only to the extent that you can function satisfactorily to [...]
One of the central thrusts of Campaign Life Coalition’s election effort is to evaluate each candidate’s position on right to life issues. It’s a major task, involving the work of staff and volunteers from across the country. The evaluation is based on candidate’s responses to a seven-item Campaign Life Coalition questionnaire. It forces our would-be leaders to declare their views on such [...]
Interim Special Many feel they have done nothing wrong and have refused to quit the targeted groups. For a year, Marilyn Seiker and others like her have continued to receive Holy Communion, despite a bishop’s demand that they quit groups such as Planned Parenthood or face excommunication. “We thought it would be scandalous to our grandchildren to see us being refused Communion,” [...]
Interim Special “Euthanasia and assisted suicide are ‘knocking at the door’” says Father Jim Whalen, National Director for Priests for Life, Canada. “And we can’t just ignore the traps of death. Just as 25 years ago when many said we would never kill our unborn, now another attack on the dignity of human life is ready to take hold here in Canada. [...]
Pro-life groups across the country welcome the February 6 Supreme Court of Canada decision granting a new trial for Saskatchewan farmer Robert Latimer. While there exists a possibility of a second jury acquitting Latimer of murder charges, pro-lifers hope a new trial will refocus attention on the innocent victims of so-called mercy killings. Convicted of second-degree murder in the November, 1994 death [...]
BOSTON – A report in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine reveals the incidence of euthanasia and doctor assisted suicide is rising in the Netherlands, even though both practices are illegal. However the report says Dutch doctors are not willing to assist in patients' suicides for morally unacceptable reasons. The report was designed to see if legalization of euthanasia and assisted [...]
The pro-life office of the London, Ontario diocese has stressed euthanasia as one of the most important life issues facing the community. In a statement issued to parishes in the diocese, the pro-life office said it is crucial that people be motivated to oppose any legislative plans to decriminalize assisted suicide. The push to oppose the practice has been inspired in part [...]
The pro-life community is gratified with the success of a newspaper supplement which is being used to educate Canadians of the dangers of euthanasia. The 12-page publication offers a series of articles on the euthanasia and assisted suicide and relates the Canadian experience to that in other countries. It also provides a list of agencies of “She’s a Child, Not a Choice”, [...]
Senator Sharon Carstairs had been expected to introduce a Senate private members bill on assisted suicide this fall. Appointed a Senator in October l955, she began attending meetings of the Senate Special Committee on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide and shortly thereafter became an official Committee member. As a member of the Committee, her line of questioning would lead one to believe that [...]
By: Herman Goodden In the Letters of Vincent Van Gogh to his brother Theo, we find a deeply moving testament of the hope and courage which even one supportive relative or friend can provide to someone undergoing the agonies of depression. During one of his all too brief intervals of lucidity, Vincent was able to express his gratitude in a letter to [...]
Pro-life supporters will monitor the situation in Australia where the world’s first voluntary euthanasia law has survived its latest legal challenge. In a July 24 decision, the Northern Territory Supreme Court struck down a legal challenge led by doctors and aboriginal people. The world’s first assisted suicide law came into effect July 1 in the Australian province of the Northern Territories. It [...]
Anti-euthanasia groups are monitoring a promise by Liberal Senator Sharon Carstairs of Manitoba to introduce legislative legalizing euthanasia in Canada. According to a report in the Focus on the Family (Canada) family issues briefing, Carstairs is hoping to bring an assisted suicide bill to the Senate this fall. “I believe in the cry of (former assisted suicide activist) Sue Rodriguez,” said Carstairs, [...]
By John Henry Westen The year of 1996 has seen the fruition of one of the more dire predictions of the pro-life movement. Pro-lifers long warned that the legalization of contraception would lead to abortion which would in turn lead to euthanasia. Society has now surely arrived at the last stage in the fulfillment of this warning. A review of some of [...]