New Zealand’s Catholic bishops will be urging voters to say “No” to the End-of-Life Choice Act in the referendum to be held in October.
In their election statement due out later this month, the bishops write that the people most at risk from the legalisation of euthanasia and assisted-suicide will be “those most vulnerable to the suggestion they would be ‘better off dead’ — our elderly and disabled people who find themselves within the scope of the Act”.
The bishops believe the greatest risk posed by the Act is “a premature or wrongful death from which there is no return”.
The bishops state that the New Zealand law is “broader in scope and more liberal than one recently passed in Victoria, Australia, as well as laws in the United States”. It will expose much larger numbers of people to the dangers of a premature death, people who are currently well-served by palliative care.
The statement also notes that elder abuse currently affects about 10 per cent of the elderly in New Zealand, despite the best efforts to prevent it. “Voting ‘Yes’ to euthanasia in this context is dangerous. It is also naïve to think the Act can provide sufficient protection against this risk.”
The full text of the bishops’ election statement, including more comments on the referenda on September 19, will be in the next edition of NZ Catholic.
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