Euthanasia brings many issues to the surface. One of these is the presumption of a person’s desire for it in the first place. Even under so called “voluntary” consent, the possibility for a person in no condition to understand a consent form let alone willingly “choose” euthanasia is vast.

Seeing the room for error even in this situation, we cannot, especially without prior discussion or consent, simply assume someone would want to be euthanized.

Stephan Bolton of Liverpool, Nova Scotia, is seeking confirmation from some authority that euthanizing his wife without her consent was the right thing to do:

Bolton drove the few minutes to the Queens RCMP detachment on the other side of Liverpool to tell police he had played a role in his terminally ill wife’s death last month.

But before he did that, Bolton telephoned The Chronicle Herald to explain that he wanted to go public to spur much-needed public debate about the issue of euthanasia.

“I don’t have an agenda. I have a guilty conscience,” he said.

And then he told this newspaper what he said he did.

It was Jan. 22.

His wife, 59, was suffering with Stage 4 breast cancer and in palliative care, with Bolton her primary caregiver.

One Liverpool resident who asked not to be named said it was well known in the community that Barbara was very ill and in great distress.

Stephan Bolton said his wife had, at most, a couple of months to live.

While she wasn’t in terrible pain, Bolton told The Herald his wife was very depressed. He said he gave her a lethal injection of two medications — morphine and Nozinan — and was taking the drugs to the detachment with him.

They had not discussed the possibility of euthanasia, he said, or did he ask Barbara if she wanted the lethal injections.

This fine blogger asks:

Why is trolling for apparently healthy depressed people and urging them to kill themselves a crime, but when Kevorkian did this to sick depressed people, he was a folk hero? I guess sick people aren’t as valuable as healthy ones, so they’re not entitled to treatment for their depression.

The story that prompted her question is here.

A beautiful column by Father De Souza about Bernard Nathanson’s conversion first to life, and then to Roman Catholicism:

Nathanson was an atheist Jew. Yet after reading deeply in philosophy and theology, and after witnessing the sacrifices of pro-life activists for “a constituency that is (and always will be) mute and invisible,” he began to entertain the idea of God.

I really like this:

At the threshold of eternity, one trusts that now Bernard Nathanson sees not the terrifying vision of the damned, but rather, as Dante concludes the Inferno, the “Love that moves the sun and the other stars.” That Love moves not only the immensity of the universe; it moves too the tiny baby in the womb.

This billboard is causing a stir in New York. It’s meant to highlight the high abortion rate among African Americans:

Mr. Faulkner said that he hoped the billboard would provoke a visceral reaction, like the one he said he had felt when he saw the abortion statistics. “It should be an offense,” he said. “This is not targeting black women. This is targeting the practice, and saying to black women, ‘If you find yourself in this crisis of an unexpected, unwanted pregnancy, there are alternatives.’

Now the mother of the girl in the photo, who signed a stock photo release, says she too is offended. I’d say that’s one billboard that is earning the publicity it wanted to achieve.

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Brigitte loves it!!

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Update: And it’s down.

Read it in full, here. An excerpt to whet your appetite:

CMAJ: In the last 15 years, amniocentesis has allowed us to diagnose genetic disorders in utero. These include neural tube defects such as spina bifida, metabolic disorders such as Tay Sach’s  disease and chromosomal abnormalities such as Down’s syndrome. Do you believe that selective abortion for eugenic reasons is a desirable option?

Morgentaler: Yes, I do. I believe that if a couple has to choose and if they want to have one or two children, they would rather have a normal child than a child with a defect. If. amniocentesis  shows  Down’s syndrome, which severely limits the ability of this child to enjoy life or to have a normal human life, it is obviously much better for the parents to decide that “we are going to  abort this embryo and have another pregnancy where we can look forward to having a normal child”. I think amniocentesis is one of the scientific means now available which permits couples to make intelligent decisions as to whether a particular pregnancy should continue or not. Eugenic reasons are very important.’

This news item about the birth of Rufus Wainwright’s daughter is remarkable in that it is actually very confusing but no one is supposed to notice. I gather Rufus and his partner had a baby daughter with a surrogate (the daughter of Leonard Cohen) but she is not the surrogate. She is the mom. And Rufus is “Daddy #1”. My only point is that it’s hard not to read and reread to try and figure it out.

So I did so listening to this. Still love this song regardless of the mess that is his  personal life.

Read all about it, here:

“We believe that the behaviour of the University is actionable. We have suffered discrimination and intimidation, we have been arrested and threatened and we are seeking restitution”, said Ruth Lobo, President of Carleton Lifeline. “The University’s discriminatory actions are shocking, to say the least. We want to ensure, through law, that this behaviour is not repeated at Carleton University ever again.”

Lifeline is asking the Court to declare that Carleton University and its administration have breached their own internal policies regarding freedom of expression, academic freedom and discrimination. As such, Lifeline is also requesting that the University is ordered to comply with these internal policies.

On October 4, 2010, Carleton University had members of Lifeline handcuffed, arrested, charged and fined with trespassing for attempting to display an exhibit that the University administration deemed disturbing and offensive due to the graphic nature of the display. In November 2010, Carleton University’s administration provided Lifeline with an ultimatum regarding the expression of their opinions and threatened further arrests.

“Carleton University has allowed other exhibits using graphic images on campus” commented Albertos Polizogopoulos, Carleton Lifeline’s lawyer. “Clearly the University opposes Lifeline’s message and not its medium. This is censorship and viewpoint discrimination and it violates Carleton University’s internal policies.”

Please note they aren’t going to a human rights tribunal, they are going to a court of law. I think they have a strong case. Good for them.

An interesting development:

Arizona is one step closer to making it illegal to perform abortions based on the gender or race of the fetus – a move that critics say is a solution in search of a problem.

But a majority of the Arizona House of Representatives on Monday agreed that there should be safeguards against such a procedure and passed House Bill 2443 a 41-18 vote.

The measure now moves to the Senate for consideration.

Here’s my question: If most people agree that it’s wrong to abort a baby just because it’s a girl or because its father is black, then why isn’t also wrong to abort a baby because it’s not convenient for the mother to have a child right at the moment?

Exactly. That’s why such measures will be fought very hard. And the fight will expose just how extremist the “pro-choice” position has become. Here again, I don’t particularly care whether this specific measure becomes law or not. I’m just delighted there’s a debate about it.

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Andrea adds: Which is why “reasonable” pro-choicers will be voted down by their own colleagues. It takes an unreasonable dedication to abortion at any time for any reason to keep abortion around at all.

Good news:

An anti-abortion activist jailed nearly two years ago for refusing to stop picketing a Toronto abortion clinic will get her case heard in the Supreme Court of Canada–but it does not mean she will be released soon.

Linda Gibbons has been arrested roughly 20 times for various offences under the Criminal Code since a civil court granted a temporary injunction around several abortion clinics in downtown Toronto in 1994. She has been behind bars nearly nine of the past 16 years — nearly much time as Karla Homolka spent in prison. 

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case to determine whether the criminal court can be used to prosecute injunctions by civil courts.

Bernard Nathanson has passed away at the age of 84. Initially one of the founders of the abortion rights movement in the USA, his conversion to becoming a supporter of the pro-life cause was an amazing turn around for someone so embedded in the abortion world. It would be as if Henry Morgentaler changed his mind tomorrow. He is also the doctor who said they made up the numbers of women dying from unsafe abortions, as they did with the numbers of women undergoing illegal abortions. I remember reading his autobiography, The Hand of God and thinking how mundane his change of heart was… there were no bolts of lightening, no visions from on high. He (as I recall, it’s been a while since I read the book) basically realized one day he couldn’t deliver babies on one floor of a hospital and kill them on another.

A life story of redemption and courage.

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Brigitte adds: His documentary, The Silent Scream (warning: graphic) was an important turning point for me. I used to be against abortion, but this film made me want to do more – in particular help Andrea launch and maintain this website. I challenge every pro-choicer to watch it.