A Canadian Parliamentary committee is recommending lawmakers legalize euthanasia for sick and disabled children or those in Canada’s child welfare system. They think those whose deaths are what they consider “reasonably foreseeable” should be able to end their own lives.
Even more horrific is the fact they want children to make the decision without parental consent. Evil? I’d say downright demonic.
Lest we look down our noses on our northern neighbors, remember the birth control and eugenics movement took off right here in America with the help of Margaret Sanger, Planned Parenthood’s radical founder who inspired Hitler’s racial purity program.
Physician-assisted suicide is now legal in ten states and Washington, D.C. of course. For those keeping score, it’s permitted in Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington. Judges in Montana and California have the power to grant people legal assistance to take their lives.
In Canada now, the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying called for an alarming expansion of euthanasia (MAiD) in Canada to now include “mature minors.” Recommendation 19 in the report states:
That the Government of Canada establish a requirement that, where appropriate, the parents or guardians of a mature minor be consulted in the course of the assessment process for MAID, but that the will of a minor who is found to have the requisite decision-making capacity ultimately take priority.
Who determines what is “appropriate”? Government, of course. Parents or guardians may or may not be consulted in the euthanasia death of their child if he or she is deemed capable of decision-making.
It’s bad enough Canada allows terminally ill and chronically ill adults to receive medical assistance to kill themselves, but expanding the legal coverage to include children is a tragic and heartbreaking development in the modern death culture.
I spoke with pastor Tim Stephens of Fairview Baptist Church in Calgary on Stand Up for the Truth podcast, and warned his congregation that Jesus comes to give life, but Satan comes to steal, kill, and destroy. He also warned about the consequences of sinful ideas.
Romans 6:23 says, “The wages of sin is death.” The consequence of sin is pain, misery, destruction, and eventually death. We see this in all types of sin…”
According to the Canadian government, after March 17, 2023, people with a mental illness as their sole underlying medical condition “will have access to MAID if they meet all of the eligibility requirements.” Again, M.A.I.D. is medical assistance in dying.
The new legislation would “extend the delay of eligibility for MAID in circumstances where a person’s sole underlying medical condition is a mental illness…”
According to Dr. Margaret Cottle, a Canadian palliative care doctor from British Columbia, medical termination (assisted suicide) now accounts for nearly 1 in every 20 deaths there.
Focus on the Family’s Jim Daly calls this new legislative push a “cavalier and caustic approach to life and death” that sadly reflects our current culture. He writes:
The medical termination movement is inevitability fanned in a secular culture, whose citizens take God’s seat. In reality, all of us will eventually die, but we believe it’s up to God to determine when.
Scripture makes clear that death is an enemy (1 Cor. 15:26). We’re encouraged to see life as a gift from God (Gen. 2:7). In popular press… you’ll hear terms like “mercy killing,” but there is really no such thing. The loving thing is to care for our loved ones, and turn over the timing of their death to the Lord.
Whether it’s murdering pre-born human babies by abortion, China’s awful one-child policy, physician-assisted suicide, or euthanasia, when people play god with life, many ethical boundaries are violated.
Who determines the value of human life if not God who created every person in His image?
If it is decided someone’s life isn’t worth living, who’s to stop a government, the medical community or society’s elites from determining which lives are more valuable and which ones are “useless eaters,” for example?
And what if a person deemed useless wants to live or their family wants to take care of their suffering son or daughter?
We’ve been sold that assisted suicide or euthanasia is somehow compassionate or dignified. The probability of abusing this kind of system is extremely high, and many of us are reminded history will repeat itself if we don’t speak up.
You might be wondering about those very real cases in which a loved one is suffering and family members or care-givers are facing despair and discouragement. We must trust the God of all creation and the Author of every human life who knows the number of our days and sees the end from the beginning.
Finally, Executive Director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, Alex Schadenberg warns:
Every time a door is opened to new reasons for killing it always leads to another door. Opening the door to child euthanasia also opens the door to euthanasia without consent.
Suffering serves a purpose that can glorify God, and trials produce endurance, patience, and help us cultivate an eternal perspective. This is a good thing.
The good news is Jesus defeated death. He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and end. Hebrews 12:2 reminds believers to keep your eyes on Jesus, the:
Hebrews 12:2 KJV – “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
