US States Expand Assisted Suicide

By Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, Canada, pictured left. 

In 2019 Oregon expanded their assisted suicide law by giving doctors the ability to waive the 15 day waiting period when a person was deemed near to death. In 2023 Oregon removed the residency requirement extending assisted suicide nationally to anyone.

In 2021 California expanded their assisted suicide law by reducing the waiting period from 15 days to 48 hours. It forced doctors who oppose assisted suicide to be complicit in the process (later struck down by the court), and it forced all medical institutions to post their policy on assisted suicide.

Alex Schadenberg Regarding Canada & the US, including Good News From New Hampshire

Dear Friends: ... 

Sylvie Berube (BQ) MP sponsored Bill C-390, a bill that would extend Canada’s law by allowing euthanasia approvals by advanced request. The bill amends the federal euthanasia law by adding to sections of the law the words: “or an applicable provincial framework.” Last year, the Québec government passed Bill 11, which expanded the Québec law by (among other things) allowing euthanasia by advanced request. Bill C-390, if passed, would amend Canada’s euthanasia law by changing the federal law based on amendments to provincial laws. In other words, Québec could legislate federally.

In the US, Democrat Members of Congress have introduced Bill HR 8137, which would allow federal funding for assisted suicide and reverse the 1997 Assisted Suicide Funding Restriction Act. HR 8137 would permit funding for “medical aid-in-dying” by defining it as not being euthanasia, mercy killing or assisted suicide. In other words, HR 8137 allows US government funding for assisted suicide by claiming it is not assisted suicide. The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (EPC) has sponsored a petition opposing US federal funding for assisted suicide.

Deep Convictions and Deep Pockets Are Needed to Fight the MAID Lobby.

By Gabrielle Peters (article excerpt).

“On the question of religious hospitals, despite being a lesbian couple, Patricia and I would tolerate life-size crucifixes in the treatment room if it meant being safe from MAID.” ~ Catherine Frazee,  (pictured here).* 

Disabled people often talk about being made invisible. This feeling is particularly striking around issues that are specific to us like MAID, "Medical Assistance in Dying." The lobbyists and proponents for Canada’s MAID regime routinely mischaracterize or, more often, omit mention of disabled people or our reasons for opposition entirely.

Canada's Life Span Drop

By Alex Schadenberg 

Life expectancy for Canadians has dropped for at least three straight years from 2019 to 2022.

The drop in life expectancy also occurred in the US during Covid, but life expectancy rebounded in the US in 2022, whereas in Canada life expectancy has remained a year lower.

Based on the sheer number of euthanasia deaths in Canada, and the fact that Canadians are not required to be terminally ill in order to be killed by euthanasia, deaths by euthanasia have strongly affected Canada’s death rate resulting in the average Canadian dying one year earlier than in 2019.

A Short History of Assisted Suicide; Is Canadian Style Assisted Suicide/Euthanasia Coming to California?

By Diane Coleman 

A California State Senator, Catherine Blakespear, introduced a bill (SB 1196) earlier this month that resembles Canada’s law and, here in the U.S., reflects the broad agenda openly espoused by the Hemlock Society and Final Exit Network. The agenda of these organizations has long included eligibility for people with non-terminal conditions and disabilities.

When Not Dead Yet activists joined me in attending Jack “Dr. Death” Kevorkian’s trial in the late 1990s, Hemlock’s executive director Faye Girsh was there supporting him. Two thirds of his body count consisted of people with non-terminal disabilities. Girsh also advocated eligibility for people with cognitive disabilities and dementia, with or without consent. Leaders also advocated active euthanasia and “mercy killing.”

Surge in Medically Assisted Deaths Under Canada’s MAID Program Outpaces Every Other Country

By Masih Khalatbari, Investigative Journalism Bureau and Robert Cribb, Staff Reporter.  Original publication, Saturday, January 27, 2024

Dr. Sonu Gaind, [pictured here] head of the psychiatry department at Sunnybrook Hospital, said he is concerned about what the surge in medically assisted deaths & "says about our society.” 

The number of Canadians ending their lives through medically assisted death has grown at a speed that outpaces every other nation in the world.

As Canada is poised to expand eligibility criteria under medical assistance in dying (MAID) legislation, data from all 11 countries where the controversial end-of-life treatment exists shows Canada is the fastest-growing adopter in history, an analysis by the Investigative Journalism Bureau and the Toronto Star has found.

Jurisdictions That Legalize Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide Will Regret It. Just Look at Canada.

By Alex Schadenberg 

Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

I am just returning from a speaking tour which included meetings with elected representatives in Scotland and the Isle of Man. Both jurisdictions are debating the legalization of euthanasia and assisted suicide. While in Scotland, a news story was published concerning Keir Starmer, the leader of the UK Labour party, who promised that if elected he would bring forth a bill to legalize assisted dying.

At the same time the French President, Emmanuel Macron, announced that an "assisted dying" bill would be introduced on May 27. As horrific as Canada's experience with euthanasia has been, the terrible euthanasia stories out of Canada is creating a hesitancy in other countries when they debate legalizing poisoning by doctors.

24 Years Ago, Jeanette Hall Had Terminal Cancer and Wanted Assisted Suicide

 By Alex Schadenberg , material contributed by Margaret Dore

I was speaking this weekend in Oregon and Dr Kenneth Stevens gave us an incredible gift by bring Jeanette Hall to the event.

(Picture: Alex Schadenberg, Jeanette Hall, Kenneth Stevens, Wesley Smith)

Oregon's assisted suicide law came into effect in 1998. In 2000, Jeanette Hall had cancer and she was give six to 12 months to live. Jeanette made a settled decision to use Oregon's assisted suicide law in lieu of being treated for cancer. Her doctor, Kenneth Stevens, who opposed assisted suicide, thought that her chances with treatment were good. Over several weeks, he stalled her request for assisted suicide and finally convinced her to be treated for cancer.

Canadian Doctors Admit Covid ‘Booster’ Shot Paralyzed Woman, Offer to Euthanize Her to ‘Make Up for It’

Canadian doctors have admitted that a Covid “booster” shot from Moderna is responsible for a young Ontario woman now being paralyzed for the rest of her life.

37-year-old mother Kayla Pollock is now paralyzed from the neck down after receiving the mRNA injection and says her life has become a “living hell.”

According to a report from The Liberty Daily, however, doctors have offered to “make up for it” by euthanizing the young mom.

Washington Post Opposes the Expansion of Canada’s Euthanasia Law

By Lisa Blumberg

Mark Holland

The broadening of eligibility under the Canada’s euthanasia law to include people who are deemed to suffer from “untreatable mental illnesses” has been delayed once again. The expansion had been scheduled to take effect in March. According to the New York Times, the postponement occurred because a parliamentary committee concluded that there are not enough doctors, particularly psychiatrists, in the country to assess patients with mental illnesses who want to end their lives and to help them do so. The Canadian Health Minister Mark Holland stated that “the system is not ready, and we need more time.” He did not give any new effective date for the expansion, although a committee member expressed the hope that the delay would be indefinite.

Shortly before the delay was announced but when there were already signs that the Canadian Government was having “second thoughts”, the Editorial  Board of the Washington Post wrote a sharply worded piece opposing voluntary euthanasia for psychiatric survivors in Canada and elsewhere. The importance of a major newspaper taking such a stand cannot be overestimated.

Bill C-62 Regarding Mental Illness

Federal Bill C-62 seeks to amend the Criminal Code to provide that persons are not eligible, until March 17, 2027, to receive medical assistance in dying “if their sole underlying medical condition is a mental illness” continues its legislative journey.

The adoption of a motion this week allowed this Bill to be expedited. Note that there was a failed attempt by the Bloc Québécois to add the issue of advance requests to C-62.

We thank psychiatrists Pierre Gagnon and Sonu Gaind who spent  Valentine's evening participating in the only meeting of the Standing Committee on Health studying the Bill.

This Is Where the ‘Right to Die’ Leads Us

By Alex Schadenberg*

Spiked published an in-depth article by Lauren Smith on January 15, 2024 titled: "Canada has revealed the horror of assisted dying." Smith tells the stories of the many people who have felt forced into  considering death by euthanasia.

Smith sets the stage for her article by calling Canada's euthanasia law a gruesome, state-sanctioned industry. Smith states:

There is nothing remotely civilized about Canada’s medical assistance in dying (MAID) programme. Assisted dying in Canada was initially considered a last resort for terminally ill patients suffering from incurable pain. But in the space of just a few years, euthanasia has been made available to pretty much anyone who is struggling with an illness or a disability. Even Canadians facing homelessness and poverty are feeling compelled to end their lives, rather than ‘burden’ the authorities.

Alex Schadenberg: "Canada's Life Expectancy Rate Drops; Euthanasia Is One of the Reasons"

Canada's life expectancy rate has dropped three years in a row from the average Canadian dying at the age of 82.3 years in 2019 to 81.3 years in 2022. Much of the news coverage blaimed the shorter life span on Covid 19 deaths and the Canadian Press reported that:

An increase in deaths among younger people last year was attributable in part to deaths under investigation by a coroner or medical examiner, which typically include suicides, homicides and drug toxicity deaths.

Further to that, the Canadian Press reported:

New Brunswick saw the biggest decline in life expectancy among provinces, dropping more than a year to 79.8 years from 80.9 in 2021, the report said. Saskatchewan's life expectancy has fallen the most over the past three years combined, dropping a full two years to 78.5 in 2022 from 80.5 in 2019. Prince Edward Island was not included in the yearly data breakdowns by province.

Health Columnist Andre Picard was published by the Globe and Mail on December 5 as stating:

A one-year loss in life expectancy may not seem like a big deal, but it is. It’s only the second time this sharp a drop has happened in Canada in the past century. In fact, life expectancy has been climbing steadily for decades: 71 in 1960, 75 in 1980, 79 in 2000, and 82.3 in 2019. Life expectancy is an oft-misunderstood measure. It’s not so much a prediction of how long an individual can expect to live, but rather a crude measure of a country’s health, the only real measure of overall population health we have.

To read Schadenberg's article as originally published, please click here: