Life legislation

Supporters of David Seymour’s proposed euthanasia legislation conveniently ignore the advancement of modern medicine that is available to assist patients with painful and incurable diseases to live longer and pain free.

They ignore the reality that doctors are trained to save and assist human lives not kill them; that legal drugs available and provided are given out to help humans to live normal lives, not kill them.

Euthanasia supporters also ignore the many horrifying overseas reports where it is legal – of its abuse, where lives are ended, including young children with a curable disease; and of wrong patients accidentally being euthanised.

This is because the doctors responsible had fallen into the evil trap of ‘‘familiarity breeds contempt’’ in the killing of a life.

We have seen in New Zealand another life legislation being abused. I refer to the gross abuse of available abortions

In spite of the 1977 Parliament instructions for consultants not to authorise abortion on demand and that they must give consideration to the rights of the unborn child in their authorising of an abortion, today in reality the opposite has happened in New Zealand. Abortions are being performed on demand.

Today on average annually 13,000 NZ lives with potential, and who unlike the their parents had no choice in their existence, are been deliberately killed.

This abuse of the abortion act could be easily corrected by the justice department insisting that one of the consultants must be a registered psychiatrist and the consultation must last more than 30 minutes.

Pauline McIntosh