Opposing Euthanasia

Culture of death“Euthanasia is being pushed again in NSW. There’s a lot more that could be said, but here’s what I’m sending to my local MPs…”

–Sandy Grant writes at The Briefing.

This is after news that the Rights of the Terminally Ill Bill 2013 may be introduced into the Legislative Council of the NSW Parliament as a private members bill tomorrow – Thursday, 2 May 2013 – by the NSW Greens MLC, Cate Faehrmann.

(Image: Feggy Art on Flickr.)

Depression and Euthanasia

“I am deeply troubled by the availability of euthanasia to people suffering from depression and mental illness. Recent research from Oregon, USA, where euthanasia is available has not stilled my troubled soul. …”

– from Bishop of Tasmania John Harrower.

Tasmanian Synod ‘No’ to Euthanasia

The Synod of the Diocese of Tasmania  –

* affirms that all human life is made in the image of God and precious in his sight

* affirms that a just society will seek to protect the weak and vulnerable.

* affirms its opposition to voluntary euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide

* calls on the Premier and Prime Minister to oppose any initiative to legislate for voluntary euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide

* calls on State and Federal Governments to provide adequate funding for palliative care services across Tasmania

* calls on all Tasmanian Anglicans to raise these issues with their local members of Parliament

* requests the Bishop to make the substance of this resolution known to the relevant parties.

– from Bishop John Harrower. The Synod met in Launceston on 4 June 2011.

Euthanasia: The Patient and the right of ‘Advance Directives’

“Dr Megan Best suggests that while Christians believe that we are not free to take the life of another person, this does not mean that we must prolong life at all costs. Nor does it mean that the patient has no rights to cease treatment or give directions about their last days of life…”

– Dr Trevor Cairney at the Centre for Apologetic Scholarship and Education has some very helpful resources from palliative care doctor Megan Best at the Just in CASE blog.

Dr Megan Best’s Synod speech on the Euthanasia motion

In the ongoing debate on Euthanasia, Dr Megan Best’s speech at Sydney Synod last month is well worth reading and circulating.

“I speak as a palliative care doctor. Palliative care is specialty care for terminally ill patients.

Our state and federal parliaments have been asked to consider changing the law to allow euthanasia. We are told that 85% of Australians support such a change. I believe that what this shows us may not be so much how many people support euthanasia, so much as the fact that many people don’t actually know what it is.

Having discussed euthanasia on talkback radio many times over the years, I have come to realise that misconceptions are rife amongst the general public. Confusion abounds regarding what the legalisation of euthanasia means. But first we need to know what euthanasia is not…”

Read Dr Best’s full speech here (PDF file).

The text of the motion to which she was speaking can be seen on pages 1 and 2 of the Business paper for October 19 2010 (PDF).

Euthanasia question needs wider discussion

“Australians are overwhelmingly in favour of euthanasia. Who can resist the will of the people? So goes the pro-death argument for this sweeping social change. A much quoted 2009 survey, commissioned by the pro-euthanasia group Dying with Dignity, reports 85 per cent support for the practice. As is always the case, support is more muted among the over-65s: the prospect of death, it turns out, does concentrate the mind…”

– Andrew Cameron writes this opinion-piece in today’s Sydney Morning Herald.

Anglicans oppose euthanasia move

“Labor and the Greens have shown a lack of integrity by moving on voluntary euthanasia straight after the election rather than before it, Melbourne Anglican Bishop Philip Huggins said yesterday.

Bishop Huggins has asked the national parliament of the Australian Anglican Church, now meeting in Melbourne, to affirm the sanctity of life as God’s gift. … ‘This was not a matter of pre-election debate. Would people have voted the same way if they knew a Labor government with the Greens would, as a near-first action, promote a conscience vote on euthanasia?’…”

– Report from The Age.

Bishop John Harrower on euthanasia

Bishop John HarrowerIs Euthanasia A Morally Acceptable Way To Ease Suffering Of The Elderly?

You probably expect an Anglican bishop to oppose a euthanasia ‘reform’. I do, but maybe not for the expected reasons.

First, some theology: life is a gift from God, a sacred trust, not to be taken by human hand. Read more

France proposes further diminishing of human dignity

“If you are going to subvert the sanctity of human life at the beginning of life, as you have with abortion, then you are certainly going to also eventually get to subverting the dignity and sanctity of human life at the other end of the age spectrum. …

The slippery slope is indeed very slippery and it is a slope towards the acceptance of euthanasia or assisted suicide or whatever you might want to call it. …

… we are talking about a radical change in French law, and we as Christians understand that reflects an even more foundational and fundamental radical change in morality.”

– In his The Briefing broadcast for Monday 18 March 2024, Dr Albert Mohler looks at the sadly predictable pattern – this time, in France.

Embrace Compassion as the World Rejects Life’s Sanctity — Archbishop Kanishka Raffel writes

“In the past five years, two momentous decisions have been taken by our State Parliament, both under the banner of ‘right to choose’.

The first, the abortion liberalisation in 2019, was a change against which Sydney Anglicans, led by my predecessor Dr Glenn Davies, took a firm stand.

The other was in 2023. On November 28, the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2022 (NSW) (the Act) came into force in this State, enabling eligible people to choose to access euthanasia in accordance with the regulations and guidelines stipulated by the Act.

This watershed shift in medical practice and community expectation marks the final abandonment of one of the cornerstones of Western civilisation over the past two millennia: the sanctity of life. …”

– Archbishop Kanishka Raffel writes at SydneyAnglicans.net.

The article includes two helpful links.

Kanishka Raffel: We must not lose sight of this simple Christmas message

Archbishop Kanishka Raffel has written this editorial which was published in The Daily Telegraph today.

What can we say when people come face to face with evil? How can we make sense of this desperate world? We need a word from God, which is exactly what Christmas is. God has spoken through his Son, Jesus.

Full text below:

The beginning of this year seemed to offer a ‘fresh start’ as we came out of COVID. Yet, as 2023 unfolded, the cost of living rose beyond the means of many, we witnessed with grief and horror, man-made calamity in war and conflict, as well as natural disasters, tragic accidents, and terrible crimes. 

We in Australia were not isolated from the international conflicts. Many have family and friends in war-torn areas and watch helpless as the television news brings the horrors into our lounge rooms. In Gaza, Israeli hostages are held by the terrorists while civilians have been tragically killed or displaced. The salt in mothers’ tears is the same, whether they are in Ukraine, Sudan or the Middle East. In far too many places around the world, children suffer in wars and conflicts not of their own making. 

Neither have we been insulated from rising inflation and the consequent effect on interest rates. The price of grocery items soared as home-owners were hit by five increases in interest rates this year. According to the research by Anglicare in its Rental Affordability Snapshot, the crisis in housing security has deepened for those in low-income households and the most vulnerable family groups. Basic affordable housing is beyond the reach of single parents, or single people, on any of the various welfare payments. The crisis in affordability has been made worse by rental availability plunging to levels not seen for more than a decade.

During COVID, there was a rise in domestic violence and we continue to see cases resulting in the death of women of all ages. I am told that younger women, between the ages of 18 to 34 years, are at greatest risk. These are terrible statistics and I commend the work of services such as 1800 Respect (1800 737 732). No women should have to suffer any form of abuse or coercive control. This is not God’s way for our families.

The introduction, last month, of the Voluntary Assisted Dying laws is a backward step for our society. Although introduced with what many consider to be the strictest protocols, I believe this will create pressure on already under resourced palliative care and diminish our commitment to protecting and valuing every human life. 

We have seen this play out in Canada, a country not unlike our own. While euthanasia was introduced in 2016, initially only for the terminally ill, it now accounts for 4 percent of all deaths in that country. New measures next year will extend the availability of assisted suicide in Canada to situations where a person’s sole medical condition is a mental illness.

The idea that all human life is inherently precious was not generally affirmed in the world into which Jesus Christ was born (although it was a tenet of Judaism). It spread with the growth of early Christianity and finds expression today in the UN Declaration of Human Rights.

Laws create culture. Practices shape values and community expectations. For two thousand years, Christian teaching has asserted the inestimable value of the individual created in the image of God and precious by virtue of life’s sanctity, not merely life’s utility or quality.  We abandon that principle at our peril. 

The horrors we see overseas, reach deep into our society too, as the Middle East conflict has brought a rise in anti-semitic sentiment. Flag burnings and aggressive verbal incitements to violence against Jewish people have shocked and repulsed our city. The sin of antisemitism has a long and shameful history. It must be repudiated in the strongest terms, so in October, I joined other faith leaders in calling for national unity and harmony so that our multi-cultural, multi-faith community may continue to thrive without hate or violence.

What can we say when people come face to face with evil? How can we make sense of this desperate world? We need a word from God, which is exactly what Christmas is. God has spoken through his Son, Jesus. The Bible describes Jesus as the Word of God – he is God’s word to us in good times and in bad.

When God came into the world he came in the vulnerability of childhood. He was born, amidst whispers of scandal, to an unwed mother. His parents searched fruitlessly for a place to stay. The secular power of the day sought his death and propelled his family to flee their home. He was born, unmistakeably, into this world with all its threats and insecurities, especially for children and the poor.

Yet, Jesus came to bring a word from God. To those who received him he gave the right to become children of God, St John says in the majestic opening to his Gospel. To a world wearied by war, human wickedness, death and decay – Jesus speaks a word of life, light, hope and adoption into God’s family.

Rising costs may have forced a stripped-down Christmas this year yet when you strip away the tinsel you have the simple message of Christmas, so simple a child can believe and yet so substantial that its wonders and glories can fill our hearts and sustain us through life’s challenges. At its heart the message of Christmas is nothing other than Jesus, and nothing better than Jesus.

May I wish you and those you love a very happy Christmas.

____________________________

– See also the Archbishop’s shorter Christmas video.

(With thanks to Russell Powell for the text. Image: SydneyAnglicans.net)

Canada is not only euthanizing Persons but Personhood itself

“In 2016, Canada legalized euthanasia for adults suffering severely and incurably near the end of life.

Four years later, it legalized euthanasia for adults even if death is not “reasonably foreseeable.”

Next year, euthanasia is set to become legal also for adults whose sole medical condition and source of suffering is mental illness. Recommendations have been made to legalize euthanasia for minors whose death is “reasonably foreseeable.”

The organization that regulates physicians in the province of Quebec has suggested that euthanasia should be available for infants with severe disabilities or illnesses that render them unlikely to survive. …”

– Since euthanasia has just been introduced in New South Wales, this is a very relevant article by Brian Bird at Public Discourse.

Link via Anglican Mainstream.

Voluntary assisted dying laws partly invalid

“An important decision handed down recently in the Federal Court of Australia rules that part of Victoria’s euthanasia law (the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2017 (Vic)(‘VADA 2017’)) is invalid, as it authorises assistance with suicide, which is prohibited by Federal law.

The decision, of Abrahams J as a single judge in the Federal Court, is Carr v Attorney-General (Cth) [2023] FCA 1500 (30 November 2023). The implication is that similar provisions of other State and Territory laws are also invalid. The relevant federal law, sections 474.29A and 474.29B of the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth), in broad terms, makes it an offence to assist or encourage someone to commit suicide through use of a ‘carriage service’, most commonly by use of a telephone (either a voice call or a text message), email, or some internet service. …”

– At Law and Religion Australia, Neil Foster looks at the implications of a recent decision.

Image from a Diocese of Sydney training day.

Quebec funeral home charging $700 for doctor-assisted suicide services

“A Quebec funeral home is renting out a private room for people to partake in doctor-assisted suicide – at a minimum cost of $700.

The cost is not for the euthanasia procedure, which is covered by Quebec’s medical insurance, but for the dedicated space featuring couches, candles, plants and artworks. Patients come to the home with their physician.

The funeral home’s new offering comes amid euthanasia deaths exploding in the province, going from 63 in 2015-2016 to 3663 in 2021-2022.

The funeral home takes charge of handling the deceased body, noting that it has necessary installations on site…”

– Report from True North (Canada).

Image: A St Helen’s Bishopsgate video.

Prime Minister supports Calvary compulsory takeover

“We now know that the Prime Minister of Australia, Mr Anthony Albanese, as an elected representative of the country, supports the compulsory acquisition of Calvary Hospital. This acquisition is not being done according to the rule of law or on just terms.

Can anybody imagine the great Labor Prime Ministers, John Curtin, Ben Chifley, Bob Hawke, or Paul Keating, doing such a thing?What’s at stake here is not the Labor Party, not the Catholic church, but the rights of ordinary citizens to have proper land and property rights.”

– Catholic Voice.

See also:

Anthony Albanese backs Calvary Hospital takeover two days before laws set to pass – The Catholic Weekly,

“Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has backed the ACT Government takeover of Calvary Public Hospital, just two days before legislation is likely to pass the ACT Legislative Assembly. …

Australian Medical Association ACT branch president, Dr Walter Abhayaratna, wrote in a recent letter to the ACT health minister, Rachel Stephen-Smith, that the takeover sets a ‘terrible precedent’ and that senior doctors felt disrespected, shocked, dismayed and angry at the rapid takeover.

Legislation to compulsorily acquire the hospital and land was introduced into the ACT Legislative Assembly on 10 May, and will likely be passed by the Labor-Greens majority government this Wednesday, on 31 May.”

Albanese supports ACT Government on Calvary acquisition – CathNews.

Anthony Albanese intervenes to back ACT Govt on Calvary acquisition – Canberra Times (subscription).

Calvary on the cross – former Minister for Defence, Kevin Andrews, at Spectator Australia, 27 May 2023,

“The belief that this proposal is about abortion – and euthanasia, which the ACT plans to introduce – is well-founded. Is the next institution to be acquired Clare Holland House, the praised palliative care service also operated by Calvary?

This is not a Catholic issue, nor even a Christian one. If the ACT government can acquire a well-functioning, viable hospital that is providing first-rate healthcare to the populace, what else can it acquire? Independent schools? Clubs with pokies? Greyhound and horse racing tracks? The premises of organisations that oppose its political views? This is a dangerous precedent which should be resisted by everyone who values the freedoms and toleration that our polity is built upon.”

Earlier:

Catholic Archbishop ‘shocked and stunned’ at ACT’s proposed takeover of Calvary Hospital.

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