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Scottish MP Pushes Assisted Suicide Bill that Includes Right to Die for Children
LifeSiteNews ^ | 12/10/08 | Kathleen Gilbert

Posted on 12/10/2008 4:20:02 PM PST by wagglebee

EDINBURGH, December 10, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Despite attracting little support from colleagues, Scottish Parliament Member Margo McDonald is continuing to fight for a bill to legalize assisted suicide. McDonald’s bill is so broad that it would entitle children of 12 and younger to choose to kill themselves.

McDonald held a consultation yesterday on the End of Life Choices (Scotland) Bill in an effort to garner more support. So far, McDonald has the support of only three other Parliament members, whereas eighteen are needed for the bill to merit review at Holyrood.

During the consultation, McDonald said that the age limit for assisted suicide consent should coincide with the age when children are allowed to decide which parent to live with after a divorce. Children older than 12 are typically consulted in Scotland's custody battles, with exceptions occasionally made for younger children deemed mature enough.

In a sound byte available on the online version of the Herald, McDonald, who suffers from Parkinson’s, said it is "absolutely inhumane" and "cruel" not to allow ailing individuals access to lethal drugs. She claims that she has received large amounts of correspondence supporting her initiative to allow patients to ask doctors for assistance in dying. Euthanasia campaigners in Scotland, according to the Herald, say there is a "small but significant" demand among Scots.

MacDonald said: “There are lots of people up and down Scotland who would like to make sure that they miss the last - and for them most intolerable - part of life, because of incapacity, loss of dignity, loss of control, insufferable pain perhaps.”

McDonald suggested that Scottish doctors already underhandedly administer lethal amounts of painkillers to suffering patients with the understanding that the patient wishes to die. "I think some doctors are happy that that area of ambiguity should remain," she said, "but other doctors would rather be protected by the law."

Health secretary Nicola Sturgeon said she was against assisted suicide, and noted she was not convinced that a law granting immunity to doctors killing their patients could be adequately modified to safeguard against abuses.

Ms. MacDonald began her campaign in March when she entreated Parliament to legalize assisted suicide so that she could seek death if her disease caused life to become unbearable.

Earlier attempts to introduce euthanasia legislation at Holyrood have met with a similar lack of enthusiasm. Jeremy Purvis, the Liberal Democrat Parliament member, drafted "mercy killing" legislation in 2004 but also failed to find support among colleagues.

Assisted suicide is illegal in the entire U.K. However, legislation dealing with assisted suicide, known as the Coroners and Justice Bill, is scheduled for consideration in the British Parliament, though the scope of the bill is yet unclear.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: euthanasia; moralabsolutes; prolife; scotland
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During the consultation, McDonald said that the age limit for assisted suicide consent should coincide with the age when children are allowed to decide which parent to live with after a divorce. Children older than 12 are typically consulted in Scotland's custody battles, with exceptions occasionally made for younger children deemed mature enough.

Disgusting.

1 posted on 12/10/2008 4:20:03 PM PST by wagglebee
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To: cgk; Coleus; cpforlife.org; narses; Salvation; 8mmMauser

Pro-Life Ping


2 posted on 12/10/2008 4:20:40 PM PST by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
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To: 185JHP; 230FMJ; 50mm; 69ConvertibleFirebird; Aleighanne; Alexander Rubin; ...
Moral Absolutes Ping!

Freepmail wagglebee to subscribe or unsubscribe from the moral absolutes ping list.

FreeRepublic moral absolutes keyword search
[ Add keyword moral absolutes to flag FR articles to this ping list ]


3 posted on 12/10/2008 4:21:26 PM PST by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
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To: wagglebee
Health secretary Nicola Sturgeon said she was against assisted suicide, and noted she was not convinced that a law granting immunity to doctors killing their patients could be adequately modified to safeguard against abuses.

Why don't they try it on prisoners who are already sentenced to die for their terrible crimes. No doubt some of them don't want to live anymore. /sarc

4 posted on 12/10/2008 4:24:43 PM PST by pray4liberty (Always vote for life!)
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To: wagglebee

Don’t kid yourselves, this will pass eventually. Nothing ever gets better but things continue to worse and worse. It’s a bottomless pit of depravity and humanity will not be able to lift itself up.


5 posted on 12/10/2008 4:25:59 PM PST by Soothesayer (The United States of America Rest in Peace November 4 2008)
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To: wagglebee

When the state picks up the costs of health care, the state will be more than happy to help you kill yourself, particularly if you are ill and are going to rack of a lot of medical expenses.

Follow the money. This is not about rights. This is about efficiency.


6 posted on 12/10/2008 4:26:29 PM PST by gridlock (Don't blame me... I voted for PALIN!)
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To: wagglebee
McDonald suggested that Scottish doctors already underhandedly administer lethal amounts of painkillers to suffering patients with the understanding that the patient wishes to die. "I think some doctors are happy that that area of ambiguity should remain," she said, "but other doctors would rather be protected by the law."

Happens in the US all the time. My father's doctor very carefully told my father how much of his medicine he should NOT take because it could kill him and also told my father that the pills would be useless if be became too ill as he wouldn't be able to swallow them. My father died a peaceful death unlike the agony that preceded it.

7 posted on 12/10/2008 4:30:03 PM PST by E=MC2
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To: wagglebee
Pinged from Terri Dailies

8mm


8 posted on 12/10/2008 4:30:32 PM PST by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
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To: wagglebee

Dear Margo - any time you want you can run a garden hose from the tailpipe of your tiny car to the cabin. Put an audio book version of “Dreams of My Father” on and do us all a favor. Just don’t put too much petrol in the tank, I’m sure you don’t want to leave one last big carbon footprint.


9 posted on 12/10/2008 4:32:18 PM PST by Lou Budvis ("I did not have sex with that woman..." = "I did not have contact with the governor..")
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To: E=MC2

So your father’s doctor committed malpractice, that DOES NOT make it right.


10 posted on 12/10/2008 4:36:32 PM PST by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
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To: All

http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.2473914.0.Children_should_have_right_to_choose_death.php


11 posted on 12/10/2008 4:41:29 PM PST by Gondring (Paul Revere would have been flamed as a naysayer troll and told to go back to Boston.)
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To: wagglebee
So your father’s doctor committed malpractice, that DOES NOT make it right.

No malpractive. He gave very valid medical advice. After all, NO patient should misuse medication and all patients should know how to properly take medicine.

12 posted on 12/10/2008 4:43:31 PM PST by E=MC2
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To: wagglebee
that DOES NOT make it right.

Right in my eyes, my father's eyes and the eyes of the Lord. Not your call.

13 posted on 12/10/2008 4:44:27 PM PST by E=MC2
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To: E=MC2
Right in my eyes, my father's eyes and the eyes of the Lord.

What is RIGHT is not decided by popular opinion or selfish desires, it is decided by God and He said very clearly:
Thou shalt not kill.

14 posted on 12/10/2008 4:45:51 PM PST by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
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To: wagglebee

“During the consultation, McDonald said that the age limit for assisted suicide consent should coincide with the age when children are allowed to decide which parent to live with after a divorce. Children older than 12 are typically consulted in Scotland’s custody battles, with exceptions occasionally made for younger children deemed mature enough.”

This sounds like he wants doctors to kill young children who are suffering from depression. Even the life of a child is deemed no longer worth it in this brave new world.This is a level of evil that is simply unimaginable and this is coming from an elected official. We can understand why evil can be done out of hatred but this is pure and unadulterated evil done in the name of freedom and compassion. The way I see it, there is no greater depravity than this. This is the very bottom of the abyss.


15 posted on 12/10/2008 4:46:24 PM PST by Soothesayer (The United States of America Rest in Peace November 4 2008)
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To: wagglebee
What is RIGHT is not decided by popular opinion or selfish desires, it is decided by God and He said very clearly: Thou shalt not kill.

Leviticus 20:10 If there is a man who commits adultery with another man's wife, one who commits adultery with his friend's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.

Deuteronomy 22:22 "If a man is found lying with a married woman, then both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman; thus you shall purge the evil from Israel. (NASB ©1995)

16 posted on 12/10/2008 4:51:04 PM PST by E=MC2
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To: Soothesayer
This sounds like he wants doctors to kill young children who are suffering from depression.

Exactly. The incidence of depression with thoughts of suicide is rampant among children. This makes as much sense as offering a ride to every kid who ever threatens to run away from home.

17 posted on 12/10/2008 4:51:13 PM PST by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
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To: E=MC2

There is a huge difference between capital punishment and taking an innocent life, but I’m guessing that you are incapable of understanding it.

I’m curious, are you a new troll or a retread?


18 posted on 12/10/2008 4:52:45 PM PST by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
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To: wagglebee
There is a huge difference between capital punishment and taking an innocent life, but I’m guessing that you are incapable of understanding it.

OK. It is ok to kill under certain circumstances. But you said "Thou shall not kill". But that is off the topic. We are talking about ending ones own life with dignity. That is not killing.

19 posted on 12/10/2008 4:54:54 PM PST by E=MC2
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To: wagglebee
There is a huge difference between capital punishment and taking an innocent life, but I’m guessing that you are incapable of understanding it.

Should adultery be subject to capital punishment?

20 posted on 12/10/2008 4:58:13 PM PST by E=MC2
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