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"Words Are Important":
Reflections on Canada's Bill
C-384
Part Three of Three By Dave Andrusko One of the goals of TN&V is to introduce our readers to pro-life voices they may not have already heard. So as not to drown you in information, I try to be discrete. Let me introduce Susan Martinuk, a columnist for the Calgary Herald. Actually, this is the formal introduction. We've already met her earlier this week through a discussion of one of her fine column. ("It's been a tough week for pro-choicers." www.nrlc.org/News_and_Views/April10/nv042110part2.html). Her latest column, which appears today in the Calgary Herald, is absolutely stunningly insightful, carefully parsing the many extraordinarily dangerous components of Canada's Bill C-384. It is so filled with memorably phrasing I could easily write a piece longer than her op-ed (but won't). The bill was the third go-round by MP Francine Lalonde. Opponents hope this means third, as in "Three Strikes You're Out." But we all know better. Martinuk begins with a truism too often neglected: "Words are important." The key to her op-ed, and to understanding so much "death with dignity" legislation, is captured in one sentence--"The words in the Bill may have appeared to be adequate but, once analyzed and broken down, they are filled with contradictions." To take just one example, Bill C-384 would ostensibly limit the "right" to people 18 years of age and older. But this fails to acknowledge "that Canada's Supreme Court has held that minor children who have the cognitive capacity to understand treatment cannot be discriminated against." Martinuk adds wisely, "It also fails to consider that the Netherlands, the McDonald's of the euthanasia movement in that it is the world leader in numbers euthanized, has now dropped that age to as low as 12." A great analysis, one you can read in five minutes. It is worth your time just to read her uplifting explanation of true compassion. Let me conclude with Martinuk's final paragraph. It masterfully captures the incoherency of "assisted suicide." "As noted by commentator Peter Stockland, 'how could a civilized society put up fences on its high bridges to prevent suicide, yet lower the bed railings of its hospitals to permit the same act? Suicide is suicide, whether it's the assisted or do-it-yourself variety.'" "Three strikes and suicide bill is out -- hopefully" can be found at www.calgaryherald.com/health/Three+strikes+suicide+bill+hopefully/2941248/story.html. Please send your comments to daveandrusko@gmail.com and please read our new pro-life blog, "National Right to Life News Today (www.nationalrighttolifenews.org). |