People shouldn’t just give up
To Prime Minister Justin Trudeau:
I write to you appealing to you on three issues - abortion, physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia.
Abortion is morally wrong. To take an innocent life is wrong. The fetus is vial able from conception. The Supreme Court ruled in 1968-1969, introduced by your father the Criminal Law Amendment Act legalized abortion, as long as a committee of doctors signed off that this procedure was necessary for the physical and mental well being of the mother.
Then in 1988 the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in R v Morgentaler that the existing laws were unconstitutional and struck down the 1969 law. The then governing Progressive Conservatives attempted, but failed, to pass a new abortion law, and since then Canada has had no criminal laws governing the subject, and abortion is a decision made by a woman with her doctor.
Without legal delays, most abortions are done at a very early stage but some are done in the later stages. You have three beautiful children. I am the mother of five and grandmother of 13 grand-children who are my life. Please let your government introduce a law that makes it illegal for a women to have an abortion. This can happen only if it threatens her life.
Physician-assisted suicide is morally wrong. I believe in life from conception to natural death. Please use the non-withstanding clause to stall the Supreme Court decision passed in Feb. 2015 and will be in effect in Feb 2016. This would give your government an additional five years to work on this issue. Assisted suicide is the act of intentionally killing oneself with the assistance of another who provides the knowledge, means or both.
A recent online consultation of 1,407 doctors showed that 63 per cent would refuse to take part in “medical aid in dying.” Physicians should have the right to conscientious objection in referring patients for medical aid in dying. I stress the importance of all physicians’ conscience rights and focusing more on and investing in more hospice and palliative care in Canada.
Euthanasia is also morally wrong. To take another’s life is murder.
I am 68 years old, physically disabled, in a wheelchair, paralyzed on the right side but I contribute a lot to society. I don’t believe in giving up.
For the life of me, I can’t see people just giving up. There is a better way for them to cope such as palliative care, better mental health services, accessible to pain clinics etc. I think we are going about this in the wrong way. Encourage people not to give up and provide the necessary services.
This letter was also sent to Lawrence MacAulay, MP for Cardigan; Jane Philpot, Minister of Health; and Jody Wilson-Raybould, Minister of Justice and Attorney General for Canada.