Free Republic

The Secret Suicides of Oregon Health & SpiritualityApril 2nd, 2012 Michael Cook Oregon’s public health division has released statistics on deaths under its physician-assisted suicide (PAS) legislation. It shows a steady increase in the number of lethal prescriptions and in the number of deaths. In 1998, the first year after PAS was legalised, there were 24 prescriptions and 16 deaths. In 2011, there were 114 prescriptions and 71 deaths. A total of 935 people have had lethal prescriptions and 596 have died.The Physicians for Compassionate Care Education Foundation, a staunch foe of the legislation, analysed the 2011 figures. Here are some of its...

AVE MARIA, FL, April 2, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The 7th anniversary of the death of Terri Schiavo was commemorated by a Mass at the Ave Maria Oratory at Ave Maria University Friday evening. Terri’s remaining family - her mother Mary Schindler, brother Bobby and sister Suzanne - were all in attendance, along with pro-life leaders and activists from across North America. Homilist Fr. Denis Wilde, Associate Director of Priests for Life, vividly recalled the “crisis period that gripped our nation leading up to the final week of March 2005 in Pinellas Park.” It involved, he recalled, “day and night media,...

Lately, Americans have been quick to disparage other countries for their approach to life and death issues. In particular, many Americans have been outraged at the Netherlands’ policies regarding euthanasia, assisted suicide, infanticide and the killing of those with mental illnesses. As Americans, we haven’t been entirely intellectually honest in addressing why these things have become so prevalent in Europe. After all, we would never allow that kind of immorality or degradation of human life. Not in this great nation. Right? Wrong. Americans had better look again and take the time to rethink their value systems. Because if you honestly...

On March 27th , the government of Switzerland released a report on the practice of assisting suicide with a dramatic conclusion: five out of every 1,000 resident deaths now involve assisting suicide. Swiss authorities recorded a steady rise of assisted suicides over the decade that records were kept.While assisting suicide is legal in only a tiny handful of jurisdictions both in the U.S. and abroad, the Swiss practice operates extra-legally. Assisting suicide in Switzerland is technically illegal, but the law on the matter punishes only those with selfish motives–which has turned out to be nearly impossible to prove in Swiss...

It says a lot about the opinion-forming classes that pretty much the only right they get excited about these days is the "right to die". They treat the right to free speech as a negotiable commodity which may be snatched away from un-PC people. They have given the nod to the watering down of other essential rights, such as the right to trial by jury and the right to silence. But the "right to die"? They cleave to that like crazy. It is the one right which, if you will forgive the pun, they would die for. Today, MPs are...

New York, NY -- Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, who became known as the "Terri Schiavo Priest" because of his involvement in the case back in 2005, issued the following statement in preparation for the seventh anniversary of her death on March 31: "None of us who were in Terri's room during her final weeks and hours will ever forget the intense spiritual and emotional impact of that experience. Terri's death was not a dignified, peaceful, beautiful event, like the proponents of euthanasia want to paint it. Instead, it was violent, ugly, and offensive to the...

March 26, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A pro-life event made the national news on French television Saturday evening when “Alliance Vita” organized a giant flashmob against euthanasia on the “Parvis des droits de l’homme” (“Human Rights Square”) at the Trocadéro in Paris. Seven hundred people, young and old, holding red hearts with the slogan “Caring, not killing,” filled the esplanade facing the Eiffel Tower and danced to the sounds of Paul McCartney’s Live and Let Die. The secret of the demonstration was carefully kept, with friends calling trusted friends to join the mystery event that was scheduled to coincide with...

Texas Right to Life denounced the decision by physicians to allegedly eliminate hydration and feeding of a patient under their care in a Texas hospital. According to the group, the hospital has refused to allow the patient and his family to take him to a nearby hospice for care. A March 20 news release from Texas Right to Life, “Willie breathed on his own through the night, but he is being dehydrated and starved to death. Because he hasn’t been fed or watered, his heart rate is dangerously low. After he breathed steadily last night, the hospital discussed hospice with...

Taking Mercy, an edition of the Global TV program “16x9” in Canada, concerns a mother, Annette Corriveau, who wants her children with disabilities to be killed by euthanasia. The show also features Robert Latimer, the man who killed his daughter Tracy in 1993. Tracy had Cerebral Palsy. The show speaks to pro-euthanasia ethicist Arthur Schaefer who suggests that Robert Latimer should have been given “mercy.” Schaefer also suggests that Corriveau should simply stop feeding her children, but Corriveau says she does not wish to starve her children to death. This is a dangerously one-sided show. Taking Mercy represents the first...

Bioethics exploded into the headlines over the last few weeks after the Journal of Medical Ethics published an article promoting “after-birth abortion,” that is, the right of parents to have infants killed if the child’s presence in life did not serve their (or society’s) interests. But hidden by the sturm und drang over infanticide, Bioethics published another radical proposal that received virtually no attention—but which, if adopted, could result in thousands of persistent vegetative state (PVS) patients being dehydrated to death.The question concerns whether or not to provide such patients with food and water. Tube-supplied sustenance—called artificial nutrition and hydration...

Dr. Peter Goodwin killed himself this week. He took advantage of Oregon’s 15-year-old assisted-suicide law, which allows residents of the Beaver State to score a legal dose of drugs by obtaining a prescription from an enabling physician. Goodwin happened to be one of the first physicians to voice support for Oregon’s euphemistically titled “Death With Dignity Act,” which took effect in late 1997. “I don’t think we would have aid in dying in Oregon without Dr. Goodwin,” said Barbara Coombs Lee, who worked closely with the former family physician to get the law the passed. Indeed, the late Dr. Goodwin’s...

A disturbing belief is spreading within the hearts of many around the world and within America: that a person is better off dead than disabled.But a leading advocate for people with disabilities is fighting that notion and looking to educate the world and the church about the precious lives and rights of "those who seem to be weaker."The Christian Post spoke to Joni Eareckson Tada on Thursday, the founder and CEO of Joni and Friends International Disability Center, about her countless achievements for the disabled community, unwavering faith in God, battle with breast cancer, and her latest recognition by Breakpoint...

The Wisconsin state Assembly has passed a bill to ban abortion coverage from policies obtained through a health insurance exchange that is to begin in 2014. States are allowed to prohibit abortions under the exchange, which is to be a marketplace for small businesses and individuals to shop for health insurance coverage. Under the bill, abortions would not be covered under policies sold through the exchange except in cases of rape, incest or when the health of the mother is at risk.

It’s official. The concern pro-life organizations had about the ObamaCare legislation funding abortions has been confirmed, as the Obama administration has issued the final rules on abortion funding governing the controversial health care law. Nestled within the “individual mandate” in the Obamacare act — that portion of the Act requiring every American to purchase government — approved insurance or pay a penalty — is an “abortion premium mandate.” This mandate requires all persons enrolled in insurance plans that include elective abortion coverage to pay a separate premium from their own pockets to fund abortion. As a result, many pro-life Americans...

It’s official. The concern pro-life organizations had about the ObamaCare legislation funding abortions has been confirmed, as the Obama administration has issued the final rules on abortion funding governing the controversial health care law. Nestled within the “individual mandate” in the Obamacare act — that portion of the Act requiring every American to purchase government — approved insurance or pay a penalty — is an “abortion premium mandate.” This mandate requires all persons enrolled in insurance plans that include elective abortion coverage to pay a separate premium from their own pockets to fund abortion. As a result, many pro-life Americans...

An engineer has come up with macabre rollercoaster concept where passengers are thrilled and then ‘killed’. The chilling Euthanasia Coaster is a theoretical machine engineered to ‘humanely, with elegance and euphoria, take the life of a human being’. It is designed to subject the rider to a series of unique experiences from euphoria to thrill and from tunnel vision to loss of consciousness. When travelling at 100m/s, the passenger would then pass away following a lack of oxygen reaching the brain. The surreal structure is the brainchild of Lithuanian engineer Julijonas Urbonas.

Disability rights activists from across Massachusetts will speak today before the Massachusetts legislature’s joint Judiciary Committee in opposition to a ballot question that would legalize assisted suicide. The activists are members of the recently formed group, Second Thoughts: People with Disabilities Opposing the Legalization of Assisted Suicide. The hearing will be at 1 p.m. in room A-2 at the state house. “Second Thoughts is a group of disability rights activists and organizations who believe that assisted suicide is a dangerous mix with a broken, profit driven health care system,” said John Kelly, the group’s director.“Economic and family pressures can make...

The Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network has announced that Ave Maria University will once again host “The National Mass for Terri’s Day” at the Ave Maria Oratory at Ave Maria University, located near Naples, Florida. Terri was killed on March 31, 2005 when her former husband won a protracted legal battle against the Schindler family for the right to disconnect her feeding tube. Doctors who examined Terri say she was not in a persistent vegetative state and that her condition could have been improved has she been given access to more medical care and rehabilitative treatment. The International Day...

  Speaking About Abortion? Mention Min Chiu Li David C. Stolinsky Mar. 5, 2012 In 1899 a baby girl was born to a poor family in China. Three previous children had died in infancy, and the family hoped for a boy. Boys were − and are − valued more highly than girls in China, as well as in India and elsewhere. So the midwife expected that the little girl would be exposed to die, as was customary. But the father looked into the baby’s face and bonded. He allowed the girl to live and, most unusually in those days,...

An article entitled After-birth abortion: Why should the baby live? was recently published in the London-based Journal of Medical Ethics, advocating that if abortion is allowed, then society also has the right to kill a newborn child. This outrageous deduction by Alberto Giubilini and Francesca Minerva takes abortion to its logical conclusion. The abstract states: “By showing that (1) both fetuses and newborns do not have the same moral status as actual persons, (2) the fact that both are potential persons is morally irrelevant and (3) adoption is not always in the best interest of actual people, the authors argue...