QUEBEC CITY, September 26, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A group of evangelical Christians is demanding that legislators withdraw a bill that would circumvent national law to legalize assisted suicide throughout the province.
Bill 52, introduced by the government of Quebec, has been condemned by critics as an attempt to end-run the Criminal Code of Canada, which bans assisted suicide and euthanasia, by using euphemistic language to disguise doctor-assisted killing as a form of “health care.”
The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada statement today demanding that Quebec's Bill 52 be withdrawn.
“Unfortunately, the bill’s true intent is hidden from public view,” the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada said in a statement.
“The accurate term 'euthanasia' has been replaced by the confusing euphemism 'medical aid in dying,'” the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada stated. “This language is designed to circumvent the Criminal Code of Canada, by creating the legal fiction that in Quebec 'medical aid in dying' is not killing but a form of health care, and thus a matter of provincial jurisdiction immune from federal law.”
“As explained in the statement, we don’t believe that physician killing of patients should even be considered as part of Canada’s comprehensive medical care,” said EFC Vice-President and General Legal Counsel Don Hutchinson.
“Palliative care – yes. Pain management – yes. Physical, psychological, emotional and family support – yes. But not the taking of patients’ lives by people we trust with our health and well-being,” they said. “To do so would flip the life saving and protecting ethos of Canada’s medical and legal traditions on their heads.”
Hutchinson said that the subversion and euphemisms employed by the government of Quebec in their attempt to pass this legislation is of great concern.
He is not alone in his fears.
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“Euthanasia in the Netherlands has expanded to include euthanasia of disabled children, euthanasia for people who are incompetent or lonely, and mobile euthanasia teams for people who were refused euthanasia by their doctor,” Alex Schadenberg of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition said. “A study published by the Canadian Medical Association in June, 2010 found that 32 percent of euthanasia deaths in the Flemish region of Belgium are done without explicit request,” he added.
Don Hutchinson said that he and the other 18 signatories to the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada statement on Quebec's Bill 52 are concerned that the evidence of flagrant abuse of legalized physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia will be ignored in any discussion of such legislation in Canada.
“We’re concerned about the impact on our laws and our medical system,” said Hutchinson. “And we’re vitally concerned with how such an initiative will impact some of Canada’s most vulnerable citizens.”
“In the small number of countries where these practices have been legalized there are well documented reports of people being euthanized without their consent, not that one can consent to being murdered,” he continued.
“The so-called safeguards are failing in every one of those jurisdictions. People report that they are afraid to leave loved ones alone in the hospital,” Hutchinson said. “Is that really what we want for Canadians?”