Euthanasia laws won’t safeguard us all

#980 for broadcast on 2CH Sydney, 19 Oct 2014.

Apart from the Christian conviction that it is wrong to kill people, even if they want to be killed, the major reason for opposing euthanasia laws is that legislation can never guarantee the protection of vulnerable or healthy people from being killed.

Giving evidence at a recent Senate inquiry in Canberra, Australian Christian Lobby managing director Lyle Shelton gave six examples from Belgium and The Netherlands where people had used euthanasia legislation without complying with its safeguards.

“Despite the best intentions,” Mr Shelton said, “it is clear that euthanasia in Belgium and The Netherlands has moved beyond something strictly available to the terminally ill or those in intractable pain.”

“Despite the Greens’ extra safeguards of requiring medical practitioners including a psychiatrist to give the green light to voluntary euthanasia, we have seen this flouted in the past.”

There have been ten failed attempts to legislate euthanasia in Australia since 2008. It’s time to pull the plug.

I’m Rod Benson for the NSW Council of Churches.