Canadian bishops urge Parliament not to legalize euthanasia, assisted suicide

September 24, 2009

The president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops is urging members of Parliament not to legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide and to avoid ambiguous language in discussing the issue.

“It is legitimate to use medication and other means to alleviate suffering, even if a side effect can be the shortening of life expectancy,” writes dying Archbishop James Weisgerber of Winnipeg. “It is also legitimate for someone to refuse medical procedures that are found to be especially burdensome. But what is never acceptable is the direct and intentional killing of the depressed, handicapped, sick, elderly or dying.”

He continues:

It is hard to see how any legislation legalizing euthanasia and assisted suicide would protect the most vulnerable in our society. What confidence and trust could they possibly have that their lives would continue to be protected by health-care providers, family and friends, or society at large? Euthanasia and assisted suicide, by their very nature, mean there is no longer a common duty for all to protect the lives of others. There is also the well-founded fear that euthanasia and assisted suicide can be imposed on individuals as a way to save costs and lessen demands on care-givers. Inevitably, the result would be a society even more fragmented, with its members living in greater isolation and anxiety.

 

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Further information:

• Letter asking Members of Parliament and all the people of Canada to reflect on the possible consequences of Bill C-384 (CCCB)