Free Republic

I wasn’t going to write about the Brittany Maynard assisted suicide frenzy. Maynard is apparently dying of brain cancer at age 29, and has decided to mount a pro-assisted suicide campaign, announcing she will kill herself on November 1.I wasn’t going to write about Maynard because I am not critical of her. No one knows what our limits might be. But more importantly, she is a living, very ill woman. No way I am going to do anything to add to her burden.But then, I started getting many media calls to comment: Three minutes on TV talking her planned suicide,...

Democratic Rep. Michael H. Michaud’s Thursday announcement that he is exploring a run for governor in Maine could spark crowded primaries for his competitive 2nd District. Michaud has won that district with comfortable margins for six terms, but his seat could be competitive if he launches a gubernatorial bid. President Barack Obama won it with 53 percent last year. “This obviously becomes a nationally targeted race if Michaud runs for governor,” said Erik Potholm, a Republican consultant who has worked extensively in Maine politics. “For Republicans, it’s a tremendous opportunity to pick up a new seat, because the … rural...

The Texas Senate will reconvene Monday afternoon to once again take up Senate Bill 5. The measure would, among other things, ban abortion after 20 weeks gestation. While the bill has received nationwide media attention, Texas would not be setting a precedent with its passage. Since 2010, a dozen states have passed similar legislation. You can see them below, in this map: Nebraska was the first state to pass such legislation in 2010, when it was aiming to push a late-term abortion clinic outside of its state borders. Eleven states have since followed in its footsteps and, if Senate Bill...

For decades now, the "pro-choice" movement has successfully distorted the abortion debate by ignoring the essential question – is an unborn child a living human or isn't it? – in favor of their infamous "right to choose" canard. A recent op-ed in the Washington Post entitled "How an anti-abortion push to redefine 'person' could hurt women's rights" employs this tactic shamelessly: "The people who attack reproductive rights are turning a blind eye to the impossible choices families have to make together, instead callously insisting that it’s lawmakers who know what’s best for women, not women themselves. . . . The...

Is there such a thing as a “duty to die?” Some notable voices in bioethics say, yes. They believe that as a matter of distributive justice, when people reach a certain advanced age, severe disability, or very poor health, they owe it to society, their families—and even themselves—to allow life to (or make it) end. Thus, in 1997, University of Tennessee bioethics professor, John Hardwig, wrote in the prestigious Hastings Center Report, “A duty to die is more likely when continuing to live will impose significant burdens—emotional burdens, extensive caregiving, destruction of life plans, and yes, financial hardship—on your family...