Media Release 11 December 2021
Right to Life deplores and grieves over the government’s abandonment of its fundamental duty to God and the community to uphold the sanctity of life of every human being created in the image and likeness of God. The government defying the fifth commandment, Thou shalt not kill, will endure the wrath of God.
The Minister of Health, Andrew Little, stated that New Zealand was now ready for “assisted dying.” The Ministry of Health’s website proclaims, “Assisted dying is a new health service in New Zealand.”
Assisted dying is a new health service in New Zealand Aotearoa, a core health service with unlimited funding. The commencement of killing vulnerable patients or assisting in their suicide is a radical and diabolical change in our health care. The government of Jacinda Ardern is the first government in New Zealand’s history to have promoted legislation that empowers a doctor or practice nurse to assist in the assisted suicide or killing of a patient with a lethal injection. This is the government of compassion and kindness.
Emma Prestidge, group manager of the Quality Assurance & Safety group at the Ministry of Health responsible for overseeing the “new health service,” advised RNZ on 18th November that up to ten patients had been legally killed since the 7th November, she has declined to provide any further information on the numbers on the grounds that the service is new and emotive.
The Ministry claims that it is anticipated that there will be about 950 requests for this new service in the first year with about 350 being approved. Euthanasia was legalised in Netherlands in 2001. In 2019 there were 6,361 patients legally killed, representing 4.4 % of the total deaths. In addition a further 500 patients are killed annually by involuntary euthanasia without the patient’s consent. If we follow Holland’s example we may anticipate in a short time legally killing more than 1,200 vulnerable patients and disabled persons every year.
Right to Life warns the community that we are going to be subject to an aggressive campaign by ACT to expand the grounds for killing vulnerable patients
Right to Life wrote to David Seymour, leader of ACT on 17th November, who was proud to be the sponsor and enthusiastic promoter of the End of Life Choice bill. We asked him:
“Is it the policy of Act to seek or support amendments to the End of Life Choice Act that would reinstate your original objectives to provide “ assisted death” for:- Those with advance directives? For those who “have a grievous enduring suffering that is intolerable to the individual?”
He replied on 28th November, “Of course that is what the bill should read, I suspect we will give it a while until your fear mongering is mugged by reality, then we will press on.”
Right to Life is committed to the repeal of this anti-life act and will vigorously oppose any efforts by ACT to amend the legislation to include advance directives, the killing of the disabled, children, babies and those with dementia or Alzheimer’s and removal of the requirement that the patient has six months to live.
Ken Orr,
Spokesperson,
Right to Life (N.Z.) Inc.
The following post by Michael Cooke is from the BioEdge website.