Posted on 01/27/2009 10:30:15 AM PST by wagglebee
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- With Washington state voters deciding to become the second state to legalize assisted suicide and courts in Montana poised to make it the third, the pro-euthanasia movement is working with legislators in Hawaii and New Hampshire to try to make them states four and five to allow the grisly practice.
Hawaii has tried and failed repeatedly to approve a bill to legalize assisted suicide.
A coalition of pro-life groups, religious organizations, medical professionals and disability rights advocates banded together to defeat the measure.
Now, a new bill, HB 587, has been filed and it requires a suicide "monitor" to be present at the time of the death of the patient. Such monitoring has been condemned in Oregon because it essentially allows the "counselors" who work with Compassion and Choices, a pro-euthanasia group, to sit in when the suicide takes place.
The New Hampshire assisted suicide bill, HB 304, seeks to take the Oregon law and expand it further.
Rather than defining a terminal illness as someone who has six months or less to live, the New Hampshire bill uses an expansive definition of "terminal illness" that could qualify even more patients for death from a physician.
Bioethicist Wesley J. Smith takes issue with the definitions in the bill of terms such as "terminal condition" and "premature death."
"What is a 'premature death' anyway? It could be just about anything. Indeed, Jack Kevorkian once infamously said that a terminal illness is one that shortens a life by a single day," he says.
He says the definition as used in the bill "could include a broad host of diseases and conditions that are not thought to be terminal illnesses as generally defined in the immediate sense."
"Indeed, under this definition a disease that could take years to kill the patient could technically qualify as a terminal condition under this definition making the patient qualified for assisted suicide," Smith explains.
"But you see, that is the plan. Advocates for mercy killing constantly push the boundaries here, and blur normal definitions there--with the ultimate goal of enacting a very broad license to mercy kill that reaches far beyond terminal illness to the anarchy of death on demand," he concluded.
Related web sites:
Hawaii Legislature - http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov
Hawaii Right to Life - http://hrtl.org
New Hampshire Legislature - http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/ie
New Hampshire Citizens for Life - http://www.citizensforlife.org
LIFE is "terminal"!
Pro-Life Ping
But, for the love...LEAVE THOSE TERRORISTS ALONE!
Freepmail wagglebee to subscribe or unsubscribe from the moral absolutes ping list.
FreeRepublic moral absolutes keyword search
Ping
Look like a clear case of Masshole.
Think positively on this: This means lower medicare costs, less money taken from the social security administration, thus keeping the system solvent longer, and more business for the funeral industry. H’mmmm, probably need to outlaw creamation because it will pollute the air.
(scarcasm off)
The death culture pushers are energized by 0bamination’s “I won”.
I hope each and every conservative and Repuglican fights this and 0bama’s other agendas with tooth and nail. No compromise, no being “nice”, no reaching across the aisle.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.