Maryan Street, a member of Parliament in New Zealand disputes the figures in a report prepared by the Institute of Marriage and Family in Canada which claims deaths by assisted suicide have increased wherever the practices have been legalised.
The report states that international evidence shows that once assisted suicide or euthanasia are legalised, the criteria morph to include more and more people. This is as true in the Netherlands, where euthanasia has been legal since 2002, as it is in Oregon and Washington State, where assisted suicide was legalised in 1997 and 2009, respectively.
Street, who has withdrawn her euthanasia bill until after next year’s election, says people need to have the choice as to when they end their lives and she says the report is misleading and statistically wrong.
She says undoubtedly there are people who would not have thought about using legalised euthanasia before because it was not a legal option for them.
Last week, Bob McCoskrie from Family First told TNVZ’s Breakfast that to allow Street’s bill would “open up a Pandora’s Box for elder abuse”.
New Zealand should adopt the same precautionary approach to assisted suicide as it did to the death penalty which said one life lost is one too many, McCoskrie said.
Source
- TVNZ
- Image: Family First
