Reflecting on the End of Life Choice Act, Four Years On.
Four years ago, New Zealand crossed a line that was once unthinkable to most people. On 7 November 2021, the End of Life Choice Act came into force, making it legal for doctors and nurses to intentionally end the lives of their patients—or to help them take their own.
This tragedy was sold to the public as “compassion,” “choice,” and “dignity.” But what our nation has embraced is something far darker: the deliberate taking of human life rebranded as health care.
A Nation That Chose Death
In these four years, close to 1,500 New Zealanders have died under this law.
Each one of these people mattered. Behind every statistic is a person and a family forever changed as hope was replaced by despair.
Euthanasia and assisted suicide abandon people at one of the most vulnerable times of life. Avoiding this abandonment was at the forefront of Dame Cicely Saunders’ life’s work, which involved caring for people at the end of life.
“Attitudes which promote death rather than affirm life are the ultimate abandonment,” she said. “The attitude of all who care for the sick and suffering must be: ‘I’m sorry you are suffering, what can I do to help you?’ not ‘I’m sorry, let me help you kill yourself.’”
Instead of offering the sick and suffering our full measure of care, we have offered them death. We have allowed the language of “choice” and “autonomy” to mask the abandonment of the vulnerable.
What We Have Lost
It is fair to say that the bond between doctor and patient—once grounded in trust and the promise to heal—has been fractured. Now, the same hands that once sought to sooth pain can instead end a life. The commitment to “do no harm” no longer stands as killing is now accommodated in the name of mercy.
This law has changed more than our health system; it has reshaped our moral imagination. For, whatever is legal must be ethical in the minds of the masses. Suffering is now seen as meaningless. Dependence is treated as undignified. The elderly, the disabled, and the terminally ill are subtly told that their lives are a burden—that death may be the most responsible “choice.” The message is compounded by efforts to broaden the eligibility criteria.
True dignity is not found in control over death. It is found in love, presence, and the willingness to accompany another through the mystery of suffering.
A Christian Response
For those of us who follow Christ, this is a moment of deep sorrow—and of calling.
In Evangelium Vitae, St John Paul II reminds us that “true compassion leads to sharing another’s pain; it does not kill the person whose suffering we cannot bear.”
We must be people who bring hope, not despair. Compassion, not killing.
Learning and Responding
To help individuals, families, and parishes engage with this reality, Family Life International has released a new resource: “Life and Suffering in the Face of Euthanasia.” The study guide has been prepared to help individuals and groups reflect deeply on the teaching of the Catholic Church regarding suffering, the end of life, and the moral questions surrounding euthanasia and assisted suicide.
Drawing especially on Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life) by St John Paul II, it invites people to encounter the truth about the human person who is created in the image of God.
The resource includes passages from Evangelium Vitae, Scriptures, questions to reflect upon and practical ideas about how to live out what is believed right where God has placed you.
Use this resource with your family, your parish group, or your friends—and be part of a movement that chooses life even when the world chooses death.
Choose Life Again
We grieve what our nation has lost. But we are not without hope.
Each of us can still be a witness to the truth that life is precious, even in its final moments. Let us pray for all medical staff, for those who are suffering, and for a New Zealand that walks with the vulnerable, the elderly, disabled and terminally ill with true compassion.
“I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.”
— Deuteronomy 30:19
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