Diane Robertson
Sometimes I think our world has turned upside down. We neither respect life nor the means by which life is created. In some instances, we have changed the words murder and killing to softer words like abortion, euthanasia, mercy killing, and death with dignity.
Since people started considering the lives of some as an inconvenience or a mistake− unborn babies− it has been easier to convince many that the lives of others are just not worth living— the terminally ill, the disabled, the elderly, and the mentally ill, or the wrong gender.
This mentality that some lives are not worth living has really begun to have serious consequences in society.
- Abortion, obviously. Since the 1960’s there have been over 3 billion abortions worldwide. That is over 1/7th of the total world population never even given a chance at life.
- Euthanasia or assisted suicide to prematurely end the life of an adult with a terminal illness.
- Allowing euthanasia for the mentally ill. Even if a person isn’t dying already, if they are suffering from chronic depressive disorders, the Netherlands allows them to end their lives with the assistance of doctors.
- Allowing euthanasia of terminally ill children. A year ago, the Netherlands legalized euthanasia for children. They sold this to the nation as a humane and merciful way to end the suffering of sick child. From an article promoting the practice, we read: “Certainly, no doctor wants a child to die. But there are horrors that exist whether we choose to address them or not. The insufferable, untreatable distress of a terminally ill child is one such horror.”
- Contemplating “post natal abortion” for disabled children. As soon as Canada legalized Euthanasia, a prominent bioethicist, Udo Schuklenk starting arguing for this. He said, “Once we have concluded that death is what is in the best interest of the infant, it is unreasonable not to bring about this death as painlessly and as much controlled in terms of timing by the parents as is feasible.”
- 90% of babies diagnosed with Down Syndrome are aborted.
- Wrongful Birth Lawsuits are a sort of malpractice lawsuit in which parents can sue doctors for not diagnosing a congenital or genetic disorder. Couples have to prove they would have aborted their child if they knew about the condition before birth. Some have won as much as $50 million in these lawsuits.
- Legal sex selective abortions. In China and many places around the world, laws allow mothers to terminate their unborn child simply because it is the wrong gender.
- Infanticide: Sometimes women who didn’t get an abortion or regret having their baby kill their newborns. In Canada judges have even acquitted women for killing their babies.
- Convincing others to commit suicide. And most recently, a girl convinced a friend to go through with a suicide. Fortunately, this is still illegal.
Society really has gone from protecting all life to slowly accepting different ways to legalize killing and make it sound just and merciful. We may be told there is no such thing as slippery slope, but history has proven otherwise.