Pro-Euthanasia Canadians Want To Include Kids Without Parental Consent
The shocking rate at which Canada has implemented and expanded its controversial “Medical Assistance in Dying” law has drawn backlash around the world and is sparking a major political fight between liberal advocates and conservative opponents.
As of 2021, roughly 33 out of every 1,000 deaths nationwide were attributed to government-assisted suicide.
Although it was initially proposed as a compassionate measure to allow terminally ill Canadians to end their lives on their own terms, its scope has since been broadened considerably. Proponents want to provide euthanasia to Canadians with a host of complaints, including mental health issues that might otherwise be managed with appropriate therapy.
As Creighton School of Medicine professor Charles Camosy told Fox News Channel host Tucker Carlson in October: “We’ve got the homeless, we talked about that last time. The poor. The disabled. Those with chronic pain. And then right before coming on, I researched the physicians group in Quebec that wants to kill newborn infants. That’s what’s coming next.”
Now, the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying is recommending that “mature minors” be allowed to end their lives with the government’s help — and without their parent’s consent — if their death is even “reasonably foreseeable.”
The proposal notably does not include an allowance for minors to be euthanized strictly for mental health issues. There are already indications that such a provision is on the table for future expansions of the law, however.
Aside from the fact that there are countless cases of individuals making full recoveries from supposedly incurable diseases, a number of activists and advocacy groups opposed to the law say that it is unconscionable to expand provisions to include children.
“I think it’s horrible,” said Amy Hasbrouck of the organization Not Dead Yet. “Teenagers are not in a good position to judge whether to commit suicide or not. Any teenagers with a disability, who’s constantly told their life is useless and pitiful, will be depressed, and of course they’re going to want to die.”
For now, the matter is still subject to debate in the House of Commons, where a number of conservatives are adamantly opposed to the expansion of the assisted suicide law.
As Member of Parliament Michael Cooper explained earlier this month: “Today the MAID Committee’s report was tabled in the HoC. The report recklessly recommends expanding MAID. It even recommends MAID for minors. I presented the CPC dissenting report. Conservatives will fight this radical expansion to Trudeau’s already disastrous MAID regime.
