Euthanasia
Written on 24 Sep, 1992 at 14:59 in
Euthanasia | Author:
Kurt Gayle In March 1992, in a Florida hospital, Theresa Ann Campo Pearson was born with anencephalia, a rare condition in which most of the upper skull and brain cortex are missing, but in which the partially developed brain stem can still produce breathing and a heartbeat.
The parents – anticipating baby Theresa’s death in a matter of days – asked a Florida court to authorize doctors to speed up the inevitable and to take Theresa’s healthy organs for transplantation (thus killing her) ... (Continue reading)
Written on 24 Sep, 1992 at 12:34 in
Abortion, Euthanasia | Author:
Winifride Prestiwch We have many non-Christians in Canada. What is the position of Islam on abortion
and euthanasia? L.M. North York.
Doctors at the 1981 International Conference on Islamic Medicine, held in Kuwait, issued
the document. It answers your question.
The Doctor’s Oath
I swear by God…The Almighty
To regard God in carrying out my profession.
To protect human life in all its stages and under all circumstances, doing my utmost
to rescue it from death, malady, pain and anxiety. (emphasis added)
To keep people’s dignity, cover their privacy and lock ... (Continue reading)
Way to go, Peterborough!
Peterborough – Civic Hospital’s Board of Governors is having a hard time getting pro-lifers off their backs. Since the news that Toronto abortionist Nikki Colodny was being “united” to Peterborough to help kill preborn Peterborough babies, the pro-lie contingent has been galvanized into action. Very successful action!
Following peaceful and prayerful visits to the houses of the three local abortionists, two have decided they do not want to perform abortions. The remaining one, Jack Sheppard, is rumored to ... (Continue reading)
Written on 24 Aug, 1992 at 9:31 in
Abortion, Euthanasia, Pro-Life, Society & Culture | Author:
Alphonse de Valk Ottawa – On May 12, 1992, a sub-group of the House of Commons Justice Committee started public hearings on changes for Canada’s Criminal Code. By the end of the summer the committee hopes to draft some guiding principles.
Among the topics to be discussed is the controversial issue of euthanasia. The Committee has before it a proposal from the Law Reform Commission’s president Gilles Letourneau. He proposes that “no one has a duty to continue medical treatment which is therapeutically useless ... (Continue reading)
Abuse of Canada Council
Ottawa, Ont. – MP Don Boudria (Lib. Glengarry), who helped quash a bill to legalize mercy killing last winter, expressed outrage that Vancouver’s John Hofsess is using Canada Council money to promote his Right to Die Society.
In a newsletter obtained by the Ottawa Sun, Hofsess said that he wanted to buy television time to show people “the actual human face of suffering caused by Don Boudria’s policies.” He urged Right-to-Die supporters to help by lending his society ... (Continue reading)
Written on 23 Jul, 1992 at 9:38 in
Abortion, Euthanasia, Pro-Life, Religion, Society & Culture | Author:
Winifride Prestwich I understand that exact scientific knowledge of the beginning of human life is only recent. How recent? E.L. Saskatchewan
I quote the evidence given by Sir William Liley (the Father of Fetology) in the Borowski Trial, in Regina: “It was in 1930 that the liberation of an ovum from the human ovary was first observed. In 1944 the union of human ovum and sperm was observed under the microscope. In the 1950s the events of the first six days of life ... (Continue reading)
Written on 23 Jul, 1992 at 9:14 in
Abortion, Euthanasia, Pro-Life, Religion, Society & Culture | Author:
Alphonse de Valk Battling the Church
The Coalition of Concerned Catholics (CCCC), the group of “progressive” Catholics who want to remake their Church in the current feminist image, met in Toronto on May 2 and 3, 1992, for their third annual meeting. Some 300 were in attendance.
Networking
The choice of American key speakers, Fathers Bill Callahan and Richard McBrien (for latter see Interim, May 1992, p. 5), was meant to emphasize the group’s current effort to become part of the international network of Catholic dissenters’ ... (Continue reading)
Written on 22 Jun, 1992 at 10:46 in
Euthanasia, Pro-Life, Religion, Society & Culture | Author:
Miss Joan Green We all have times when we want to die! If tragedy strikes, or pain is unbearable, sickness is serious, or disability is permanent we are tempted to give up. However, the living out of the days and the weeks and the months teaches us how to cope. It is in the coping and working through each day that we learn that life is valuable. We realize we don’t want to die. We can live a happy, productive life. To offer ... (Continue reading)
Written on 22 May, 1992 at 9:12 in
Abortion, Euthanasia, Pro-Life, Religion, Society & Culture | Author:
In The News…
Forthcoming Encyclical on Morality
Rome
The Roman whisper was that the encyclical was ready in October 1990, complete with the title Veritatis Splendor, ( The Splendour of Truth). Then it ran into objections from the theologically-minded German Bishops, according to the rumors. This sent Cardinal Ratzinger back to the drawing board.
Be that as it may, Cardinal Ratzinger, perfect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith since 1980, referred to it quite openly as “an eventual document on the ... (Continue reading)
Written on 20 Apr, 1992 at 15:52 in
Abortion, Bioethics, Euthanasia, Politics | Author:
Winifride Prestwich What is the objection of pro-life people to being called “anti-abortion?” After all, they are anti-abortion. R.P., Whitehorse, Yukon
True enough, but that is only half the story.
Pro-lifers are also against other evils: euthanasia; infanticide of handicapped new-borns by starvation and dehydration; the creation of human embryos (ex utero) to be vivisected in experimentation; fetal transplants and so on.
Anti-abortion is too narrow a description of the pro-life cause.
There is, moreover, a significant difference between the “anti” and the “pro” which was ... (Continue reading)
Written on 20 Apr, 1992 at 14:19 in
Abortion, Editorials, Euthanasia, Pro-Life, Society & Culture | Author:
At their policy convention in Hull (Feb. 20-23, 1992) the Liberals did it again, to the applause of the media.
Back in the years of 1967-1969 Pierre Trudeau “hijacked” the Liberal Party of Canada for his permissive society ideals. Parachuted into the leadership by a party clique, he launched his career by wondering out loud in December 1967 what God could possibly have to do with Canadian politics. After that he made divorce easy and legalized contraceptives, homosexuality and abortion.
Twenty-three years ... (Continue reading)
Shopping
St. John, N.B. In November 1991, R.C. Bishop Edward Troy wrote premier Frank McKenna deploring the sudden and arbitrary decision to permit Sunday shopping on a temporary basis.
It opens the door to the exploitation of workers and the erosion of family values, he said.
In early December, Bishop Troy wrote an open letter to Dan Cameron, leader of the CoR (Confederation of Regions) party, deploring the anti-Acadian and anti-French sentiments expressed in a press conference where the leader of the opposition ... (Continue reading)
Written on 20 Mar, 1992 at 9:18 in
Abortion, Euthanasia, Politics | Author:
Winifride Prestwich Are there any arguments against euthanasia that are not based on religion or the sanctity of life argument – ideas that an atheist might accept? L.J., Willowdale, Ontario
The well-known British medical journal The Lancet published an article on this topic, December 1989. Amongst the most important arguments is that euthanasia destroys the doctor-patient relationship, as is evident in Holland. Throughout history (except for the Nazi doctors) the role of the physician has been that of a healer, a saver of ... (Continue reading)
The purpose of The Interim is to set forth the truth about the freedom and dignity of the individual human person in the area of family, marital and sexual morality. Insofar as religion and politics, law and medicine, economics and culture impinge upon this sphere, The Interim makes these areas her own.
Erring clergy, indifferent politicians, lawless magistrates, doctors of death, abusers of revenue and culture vultures of all stripes, we expose and oppose. All those who join us in this ... (Continue reading)
Written on 20 Mar, 1992 at 8:47 in
Euthanasia, Pro-Life, Religion, Society & Culture | Author:
Interim Staff Quebec. On February 13, a week after the end of the 30-day period in which an appeal was possible against Mr. Justice Dufour’s ruling that she had a right to be taken off her life support system, Nancy B.’s respirator was taken off; she died seven minutes later.
When she was unplugged, a hospital spokesman said, she was unconscious because of tranquilizers, and her heart stopped beating a few minutes later.
Her family was gathered in prayer by her side.
André Picard of ... (Continue reading)
