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Euthanasia Advocates Plan
Advertising Campaigns in Australia and Canada
Part Two of Three By Liz Townsend
Euthanasia activists are trying to use advertising to convince people that death should be a legal "choice" in Australia and Canada. Exit International, the pro-euthanasia group founded by Australia's Dr. Death, Philip Nitschke, submitted billboard and television ads advocating assisted suicide in both countries. 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." In Canada, Exit International submitted the ads in advance of Nitschke's trip to the country in early October. Nitschke is planning to hold workshops detailing how people can kill themselves in Vancouver October 7 and Toronto October 13, QMI Agency reported. Nitschke wants to post billboard ads in those two cities, according to the Toronto Globe and Mail. The Television Bureau of Canada (TVB) must approve the TV ad before it can be broadcast, but it has not yet announced a decision. It had been reported that the TVB rejected the ad, but officials told QMI Agency September 28 that "the ad was still in the review process and that it had been neither banned nor approved." Nitschke presented his "Safe Exit" workshop in Vancouver last year, and so far two people have died in Canada after following his instructions, according to the Globe and Mail. Five others are known to have made preparations as Nitschke advises, which includes buying the drug pentobarbital from Mexico to stop the heart and lungs or buying helium gas to fill plastic bags that are placed around the person's head to cause asphyxiation, the Globe and Mail reported. Pro-life Australians have spoken out strongly against Nitschke's campaign 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. Please send your comments on Today's News & Views and National Right to Life News Today to daveandrusko@gmail.com. If you like, join those who are following me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/daveha. |
