This week on the Pro-Life World View, we bring you interesting articles on the need for pro-lifers to publicly oppose Donald Trump’s abortion and IVF policies, on significant lessons to be learned from a dramatic last-minute change of mind on euthanasia of a young woman suffering from depression, of some troubling insights into Canada’s euthanasia legislation provided by a recent opinion poll, and of an Orwellian attempt to silence pro-life witness in France by Arcom, the media regulatory authority.
Pro-lifers must resist Trump on abortion and IVF
Edward Feser – The Catholic World Report
Pro-lifers must resist Trump on abortion and IVF
Catholic philosopher and blogger Dr Edward Feser continues his critique of President-elect Donald Trump. Yes, we should rejoice that pro-abortion extremist Kamala Harris did not get in. Still, the time for silence about the gravely immoral nature of many of Trump’s policies is over. A clear pro-life response is urgently needed.
- IVF procedures reportedly destroy double the number of babies that abortion kills; an estimate is over a million and a half discarded embryos in the United States annually. Unwanted or surplus human embryos (babies) are routinely discarded in a process devoid of care for their humanity. Mr Trump styles himself as “the father of IVF” and talks of federally funding IVF, going so far as to consider forcing health institutions to participate in it. Feser says: “To speak harshly but truthfully, the destruction of embryos that is typically involved in IVF is murder, no less than abortion is.”
- President-elect Trump “supports preserving access to the abortion pill, which is responsible for the majority of abortions in the United States”.
- Trump’s wife, Melania, published a memoir during the election campaign, aggressively marketed as supporting abortion “rights.” Her book was “effusively praised by the President-elect at the Catholic ‘Al Smith’ dinner to raise money for Catholic charities”.
Dr Feser concludes: “Pro-lifers … have their work cut out for them.”
Euthanasia Homicide Averted at Last Second
Wesley J Smith – National Review
Note: The original article presented and commented on in the linked article was written by Eleanor Katetaris of News.com in Australia. Wesley Smith has editorialised it as shown in the link.
Euthanasia homicide of 22 year-old averted at the last minute in Netherlands
Wesley J Smith, a lawyer and leading author on bioethics, tells the story of Romy, who suffered from clinical depression. She had decided to end her life following Netherlands euthanasia legislation but changed her mind when she saw the coffin in which she would be taken to the mortuary. Such a change of heart dramatically illustrates how wanting to die can switch in a moment to wanting to live.
Someone saying they want to die does not always convey what they truly desire. “If the option of being killed wasn’t there, how many would go on to find other ways to grapple with their suffering and depression?” Wesley Smith asks.
Currently, New Zealand’s End of Life Choice Act does not include depressive illnesses and other psychiatric and related disorders as qualifying conditions. However, inadequately funded hospice, counselling, and other support services mean many people with terminal illnesses will be prone to suicide ideation and tempted to choose euthanasia when they could be assisted to live with true dignity.
(62%) of Canadians are concerned that socially and financially vulnerable will look to MAID based on inadequate health care.
Alex Schadenberg – Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
62% of Canadians concerned that socially and financially vulnerable will look to MAID based on inadequate health care
A new opinion poll provides troubling insights into the impact of Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) legislation:
- 63% of respondents support the MAiD law.
- At the same time, 62% worry about socially and financially vulnerable people looking to euthanasia instead of adequate health care.
- 57% of those living with disabilities have experienced barriers to care and support.
- 45% of healthcare workers polled believe people living with disabilities receive poor to terrible care.
- 1 in 5 Canadians know someone who has died by euthanasia via MAiD.
FLI Comment:
The recently published Review of the New Zealand End of Life Choice Act 2019 does not explicitly recommend emulating Canada’s approach. However, the political rhetoric from Act party spokespeople suggests some disturbing admiration of the Canadian system and an appetite to extend the scope of qualifying conditions.
French TV channel fined for calling abortion the world’s leading cause of death
Hélène de Lauzun – The European Conservative
French TV channel fined for calling abortion the world’s leading cause of death
Arcom, the French media regulatory authority, has fined conservative TV channel CNews for allegedly failing in their “obligation of honesty and rigour” when presenting information showing that abortion is the world’s leading cause of death. Worldwide, around 70 million deaths result annually from abortions – 52% of all deaths – and is seven times higher than deaths from the next leading cause, cancers (10 million) and over 10 times higher than deaths from smoking (6.2 million).
According to Arcom, “abortion cannot be presented as a cause of death.” Through this absurd Orwellian logic, so completely devoid of honesty or rigour, Arcom censors and silences pro-life witness by pretending that abortion does not cause the death of a baby. We must pray for France, “the eldest daughter of the Church,” that she recovers her senses and faith and realises how deeply wounded her soul is.
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