|
|
|
|
Euthanasia Advocates Seek
Legal Assisted Suicide in Australia Part Three of Three By Liz Townsend
Euthanasia activists in Australia have brought the assisted suicide debate to the forefront again by planning legislation to change laws banning the practice while also using advertising to try to convince people that death should be a legal "choice." Exit International, the pro-euthanasia group founded by Australia's Dr. Death, Philip Nitschke, submitted billboard and television ads advocating assisted suicide. So far, no TV network or billboard company has accepted the ads, according to AAP. The TV spot features an actor pretending to be a terminally ill man, ABC News reported. He frames his death as just another "choice," listing decisions he made during his life, such as, "I chose to always drive a Ford." Then he discusses his suicide in the same terms: "What I didn't choose was being terminally ill. I certainly didn't choose to have to watch my family go through it with me. I've made my final choice. I just need the Government to listen." Ads on Australia's free-to-air TV stations need to be accepted by a regulatory agency called Commercials Advice (CAD), which is part of Free TV Australia. CAD initially approved the commercial to air September 12 on Brisbane's Channel Seven, but after further consideration it withdrew its approval, according to ABC News. "We have considered that an advertisement for voluntary euthanasia is a promotion, or encouragement, of suicide, as voluntary euthanasia would be considered to be a subset of suicide," CAD wrote in a letter sent to the agency that produced the ad for Exit International. "CAD has discussed the advertisement with the television networks and they're of the same view as CAD." Exit International also planned to post billboards near Sydney beginning in October, AAP reported. However, Billboards Australia refused to post the ads, citing the law in New South Wales that "outlaws the aiding or abetting of suicide or attempted suicide," according to AAP. In addition to the advertising attempts, euthanasia advocates are also trying to reverse a 1997 law that leaves the authority to regulate assisted suicide in the hands of the federal government alone. New South Wales had previously passed a bill legalizing euthanasia in 1995 that was overturned by the federal law, The Age reported. Greens leader Bob Brown told Channel Ten that he would introduce legislation to allow states to pass laws legalizing assisted suicide. A spokesperson for Prime Minister Julia Gillard said that she would be in favor of a "conscience vote" on such a bill, meaning that the government would not tell members of its party how to vote on the issue, according to The Age. Several pro-euthanasia members of state legislatures have already begun the process to introduce assisted suicide bills in anticipation of Brown's bill succeeding, Sydney Morning Herald reported. Pro-life Australians have spoken out strongly against the move to legalize euthanasia. "We've all been close to people who have had a hard and difficult death," Melbourne Anglican Bishop Philip Huggins told The Age. "However, we also understand what a threshhold we cross when our efforts are not focused on protecting life, and providing comfort and pain relief until life ends." Sydney Anglican Archbishop Peter Jensen agreed. "It will be a very bad thing for Australian society to break down the key barriers which stand between us and a brutal world," Jensen told The Age. |
