NZ euthanasia bill would follow Canada’s troubling playbook

In an opinion piece in The New Zealand Herald, the Maxim Institute’s Maryanne Spurdle said ACT MP Todd Stephenson’s End of Life Choice Amendment Bill is following Canada’s playbook, with a range of associated poor outcomes. The Bill specifically references that country’s euthanasia regime.

In 2023, nearly 5 per cent of deaths in Canada were by euthanasia.

“There are reports that people with disabilities and chronic illnesses are opting to end their lives because they cannot access the care they need,” Mrs Spurdle wrote.

“This is not what many Canadians would have pictured when they legalised euthanasia for the terminally ill in 2016. But now that they offer suicide to end so many types of suffering, 28 per cent of Canadians who took part in one survey would allow it for homelessness. Once euthanasia is available to those who aren’t near death, who’s to say what it may be a ‘solution’ for?”

Leaked documents showed hundreds of “compliance issues” in Ontario that may violate criminal law, none of which have been referred to the police.

“Can someone die unlawfully if law enforcement never hears about it? Apparently not,” Mrs Spurdle added.

In 2027, Canada plans to add people with mental illness to a growing list of citizens who, if they desire suicide, will have the Government’s help in attaining it.

Mrs Spurdle also criticised the proposed removal of many safeguards by the Stephenson Bill. These safeguards were promised when New Zealanders voted “yes” to euthanasia in the 2020 referendum.

She also wrote about the fears of advocates for disabled people, problems with the Review Committee in New Zealand, palliative care funding, the proposed removal of the prohibition on doctors offering euthanasia to patients who have not requested it and the proposed requirement that every care facility allow access to euthanasia, among other topics.

“As the slippery slope confronts us, we need to make a call: do we want our society to be more utilitarian, or more compassionate?” Mrs Spurdle asked.

FULL STORY

End of Life Choice bill risks taking euthanasia ‘choice’ too far (By Maryanne Spurdle/New Zealand Herald – subscription required)