Free Republic

Karen Royle’s memories of the last precious hours with her cherished mother Rona are far from the serene, comforting images that she had hoped for. Before arriving in Zurich, Karen, 51, had envisaged a pretty Swiss chalet, with perhaps a view of the Alps — ‘just like the pictures in the book Heidi, which I’d loved as a child’. But the Dignitas ‘apartment’ at No  84 Gertrudestrasse, where 74-year-old Rona chose to end her life rather than succumb further to the ravages of Motor Neurone Disease (MND), bore no comparison to the picture-postcard tranquility her family had imagined. The image Karen...

A retired art teacher committed suicide at the Dignitas clinic because she was frustrated at the lack of interaction in modern life, because of our reliance on computers and the Internet. The 89-year-old, who asked only to be identified as Anne before her death, was frustrated with the trappings of modern life, including fast food, consumerism and the amount of time people spend watching television. Anne, a former electrician with the Royal Navy, was not terminally ill or seriously handicapped and traveled to Dignitas in Switzerland last month. Before her death she told the Sunday Times: “People are becoming more...

The founder of Dignitas – a Zurich, Switzerland, clinic that assists those with illnesses end their lives – says he wants to open a chain of "suicide clinics" in other countries to give everyone, including the mentally ill, the "the choice of a choice." Ludwig Minelli Ludwig Minelli, a Swiss lawyer, told the London Sunday Times he has already opened an associated Dignitas office in Germany and he intends to lift the "taboo" against suicide by lobbying other countries to set up clinics to offer information on effective methods of suicide and to alert people to the risks of...

It has become almost impossible for most Americans to avoid the anti-abortion arguments, the protest placards and the graphic pictures of foetuses. They might encounter them outside abortion clinics, but they are also in thousands of churches, schools, clinics and homes. Women who want an abortion, especially in Republican-controlled states, face a maze of regulations. And now, finally, the anti-abortion movement is in sight of its greatest victory. Americans have had the right to abortion since 1973 when, in the landmark Roe v Wade decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the right was guaranteed by the US constitution. No state...

In what the FBI is calling an “intentional act of terrorism,” an explosive device inside a car was detonated on Saturday outside the American Reproductive Centers fertility clinic in Palm Springs, California. The explosion, felt more than a mile away from the blast site, killed one person and injured four others, and is being referred to as the “largest bombing ever investigated in Southern California.” Los Angeles FBI field office assistant director Akil Davis said at a news conference on Sunday that the suspect is believed to be 25-year-old Guy Edward Bartkus, whom law enforcement said had “stated in writings...

The suspect who severely beat two elderly pro-life activists outside an abortion clinic last summer has been arrested as the pro-life movement continues to face increased violence amid a volatile political climate. The American Center for Law and Justice, which represents two elderly pro-life activists who were brutally beaten outside of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Baltimore, Maryland, last year, announced Thursday that an arrest was made in connection with the attack. While the legal organization did not release the suspect's name or information about him, it described the development as a "major breakthrough." Mark Crosby and Dick Schaefer were...

Numerous international groups are trying to influence Ireland into legalising abortionThe great and the good internationally have a big interest in the outcome of Ireland’s looming abortion referendum, planned for next year. They want Irish voters to erase from their constitution the so-called Eighth Amendment, which gives the unborn child the same right to life as every other human being. Abortion is only permitted in Ireland when the life of the mother is at real and substantial risk. This amendment was inserted into the constitution following a referendum in 1983 which passed by a two-to-one margin. Ever since then secular...