Once Euthanasia is Legal, Expansion Inevitable

By Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition 

The Politico published a pro-euthanasia article by Claudia Chiappa and Lucia Mackenzie on December 29, 2024. Chiappa and Mackenzie are suggesting that the legalization of euthanasia is inevitable but when they interview Theo Boer, [pictured right] a former member of a Netherlands euthanasia review committee he actually tells them that the expansion of euthanasia, once legal is inevitable. Boer states:

I have seen no jurisdiction in which the practice has not expanded, not one single jurisdiction,

By imposing really strict criteria we can slow down the expansion … but they will not prevent the expansion.

Chiappa and Mackenzie publish some of the Netherlands euthanasia statistics:

In several of the countries that have legalized assisted dying, the number of people using it to end their lives is increasing. In 2023, 9,068 people died from assisted dying in the Netherlands — 5.4 percent of deaths that year. This is up 4 percent compared with 2022 and up 87 percent from 2013.

Canadian Group That Led Campaign for Medical Aid in Dying (MAID) Calling for Safeguards

Miranda Schreiber, Special to National Post

The civil liberties group that led the push for the 2015 decriminalization of physician-assisted suicide in Canada is now warning it has become too easy to obtain MAID, and the government must enact safeguards.

The British Columbia Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) filed the case for Carter v. Canada, the constitutional challenge that led to the country’s current Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) regime. Statistics released last week reveal it was responsible for about one in 20 deaths in Canada in 2023, including 622 people who received MAID for a non-terminal illness.

Liz Hughes, [pictured above] who has served as BCCLA executive director since June 2023, said in a statement to the National Post the group is “aware of concerning reports of people being offered MAID in circumstances that may not legally qualify, as well as people accessing MAID as a result of intolerable social circumstances.”

Hughes called for government action: “Governments must put in place, actively review, and enforce appropriate safeguards to ensure that people are making this decision freely.”

Jimmy Carter Has Died

Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States, died Sunday at the age of 100, the Carter Center confirmed. Though he served only one term in office, he went on to a distinguished second act of humanitarian work, and he lived long enough to become the oldest former president in U.S. history.

Carter "died peacefully Sunday, Dec. 29, at his home in Plains, Georgia, surrounded by his family," the Carter Center said in a statement.

"My father was a hero, not only to me but to everyone who believes in peace, human rights, and unselfish love," said Chip Carter, the former president's son, in a statement provided by the Carter Center. "My brothers, sister, and I shared him with the rest of the world through these common beliefs. The world is our family because of the way he brought people together, and we thank you for honoring his memory by continuing to live these shared beliefs."

I’m Dying of Brain Cancer. I Prepared to End my Life. Then I Kept Living.

Perspective by Jeffrey Davitz

To view the entire article, click here. 

In April 2015, at the age of 55, I was diagnosed with one of the most lethal and aggressive brain tumors, a brainstem glioblastoma multiforme in an advanced stage. The prognosis was both grim and precise: Without treatment, I might have a few months; with treatment, I could last six months. If I beat overwhelming odds, I’d toast the new year one last time.

During the time my doctors were converging on my cancer diagnosis, interest was building here in California for a law, called “aid in dying,” that would allow physicians to help patients end their lives....

Then, I learned that while the aid-in-dying law had been enacted, it contained a procedural delay: It would not be effective until the following June, in 2016, long past my predicted death. I decided I wasn’t going to move to Oregon or another state that permitted assisted suicide, since it would eventually be legal in my state. I would wait if I could, and I would use extralegal means if I began to slip beforehand.... I was ready....

Then a peculiar thing happened: I started to get better.

Former Chinese Official Sounds Alarm Over CCP’s Forced Organ Harvesting

 https://www.ntd.com/former-chinese-official-confirms-reality-of-forced-organ-harvesting_1036964.html

A  former Chinese official is sounding alarm over the communist regime’s forced organ harvesting based on his own experience in China.

Du Wen, a former executive director of the Legal Advisory Office of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Government, was wrongfully imprisoned by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for 12 years before going abroad and settling in Belgium in 2023.

“I used to say, ‘Where is the evidence?’ Those are evidence!” Du said of the organ transplant advertisements that were seen outside major hospitals in Beijing.

“Every single advertisement is evidence. Every phone call is evidence: organs are being openly bought and sold,” he told the Chinese edition of The Epoch Times on Dec. 16.

Senators Welch and Manchin Introduce Bill to Cap Supreme Court Terms, Senator Lindsey Graham Opposes Proposal

By Matthew Vadum 

The bill would begin the constitutional amendment process which requires supermajority support in Congress and three quarters of the states for ratification

Two senators have introduced a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would impose term limits for members of the Supreme Court. 

The Supreme Court unanimously adopted a code of conduct in November 2023 governing the justices’ behavior.

The new resolution, introduced on Dec. 5 by Sens. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.) [pictured above], would limit newly appointed justices to 18 years on the bench, and lead to a new opening roughly every two years. To become effective, a constitutional amendment would have to be passed by a two-thirds majority of both houses of Congress and ratified by three-quarters of the states.

According to a summary provided by Welch, the amendment would not change the number of sitting justices, currently set at nine by law, and would establish a transition period to ensure vacancies occur at regular intervals.