Luxembourg Legalizes Euthanasia
By Dave Andrusko

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If there is a common denominator among the threats to human life, it is surely the insistence that just because proponents have "loosened" the restraints, it does not mean that the roof will cave in. You are also not allowed to draw any conclusions from what has already transpired either on a similar anti-life issue or on the same issue in other situations. In other words, don't be a dope and talk about slippery slopes or copycats.

We know how the assurances of "moderation" went with abortion. From the need for an occasional "therapeutic" abortion in a "handful of cases" to abortion on demand for any reason, or no reason, or against reason.

On Tuesday Luxembourg became the third nation in Europe to legalize euthanasia. This, despite the heroic efforts of Grand Duke Henri (more below).

Published in the official register, The Palliative Care/Euthanasia bill provides that doctors who carry out euthanasia and assisted suicides will not face "penal sanctions" or civil lawsuits. Luxembourg joins the Netherlands (2002) and Belgium (2003)--three tiny nations whose decisions for death could well have enormous impact.

As we talked about last December, the drive to legalize euthanasia in Luxembourg ran smack into the resolute opposition of Grand Duke Henri, precipitating a constitutional crisis. When he said he would not "approve" the bill by signing it, the legislature proceeded to amend the constitution so that Henri can "'promulgate' --or formally announce--the euthanasia and assisted-suicide bill after it received formal approval--rather than "approve" it. In other words the Grand Duke's formal power to block laws was eliminated.

The Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg

Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, condemned the actions and placed the Luxembourg parliament's decision in a broader context.

"It is a very sad day for Luxembourg. The nation of Luxembourg has now approved the direct and intentional killing of its citizens at the most vulnerable time of their life. Whatever good intentions that may be related to the elimination of suffering, cannot justify the removal of the basic protection of a citizen to be free from lethal coercion, and the protection of life.

"After many years of euthanasia in the Netherlands, it has now become very apparent that the euthanasia experiment is a failure. Children born with disabilities can be killed if the doctors and the family follow the Groningen Protocol. People with chronic depression can be killed and in the last government report in 2005 it stated that 550 people were killed by euthanasia without consent.

"Now Luxembourg is following the path of the Netherlands. I lament the decision and I hope that other national leaders will have the fortitude, like the Grand Duke, to oppose the direct and intentional killing by euthanasia of their vulnerable citizens."

At home assisted suicide has been put into place by two states (Oregon and Washington) and as the result of one judge (Montana). Although there are ebbs and flows, pro-euthanasia, pro-assisted suicide forces never fail to introduce legislation every session.

It is very instructive that the day after Luxembourg joined the euthanasia axis, the Associated Press published a story based on an interview with the former president of the "Final Exit Network" who is "defending his group's practice of guiding people who want to kill themselves because they're suffering but not necessarily dying," according to the AP's Greg Bluestein.

"These people who are terminally ill are blessed in a small way -- there's a finite time for their suffering," said Ted Goodwin. Goodwin, who stepped down as president after his arrest, added, "But there are many, many people who are doomed to suffer interminably for years. And why should they not receive our support as well?"

Founded in 2004, the Network, based in Georgia, claims 3,000 members, donors and volunteers. The Final Exit Network bases its work on the best-selling suicide manual, "The Final Exit," by Derek Humphry, who is chairman of its advisory board.

I will offer the link to the AP story at the end of this edition, so let me just make one more point. The Final Exit Network came to national attention when the Georgia Bureau of Investigations used an uncover agent posing on someone who wanted to commit suicide. The GBI was tipped off to the group's activities by the wife of John Celmer, who had committed suicide in 2006.

Celmer "was making a remarkable recovery from cancer when the group sent exit guides to his home to show him how to suffocate himself using helium tanks and a plastic hood," according to the AP. "And police say that in 2007, the group helped an Arizona woman named Jana Van Voorhis who was depressed but not terminally ill."

Still another man was to be the group's next suicide the day after Goodwin and three other network members were charged with assisted suicide, tampering with evidence, and violation of the Georgia RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) Act. But Kurt Perry "has since changed his mind," the AP reports.

About assisted suicide? Not at all. He told the AP "the arrests have given him new reason to live and help the group with its work."

www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jQQbFpru3R2YAciio8AgCE0ccvVwD9702UB03

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