BY PAT WIEDEMER
GUEST OPINION
It is a rare occasion when something so blatant is so manifestly ignored by so many people. We have been subjected to knowledge of innocent death. I refer to the recent release of statistics on abortion pill prescriptions in Canada (at least 13,000) and in P.E.I. (70) and the statistic of 3,700 cases of euthanasia and/or assisted suicide (an increase of 30 per cent).
The anonymity of death via the abortion pill or “MAiD”, i.e. euthanasia or assisted suicide, is a selling feature.
I also refer to the recent publicized (glorified?) choice for death by Audrey Parker. Parker went public with her story that she was apparently being forced by the government to choose an early death. She feared loss of competency which would disqualify her for euthanasia. The very protective measure which prevents unloving loved-ones from abusing the elderly and vulnerable is what Ms. Parker wanted removed from legislation. There are some massive faults of logic here.
No one was forcing Ms. Parker. She made the decision herself to choose Nov. 1 as her day of death. Think about her allegation: If we really had a government that was “forcing people to choose death,” we would have a state like Stalin’s Russia or Hitler’s Germany. As bad as things are right now, that is not the case.
Further, Ms. Parker claimed the alternative is to “suffer a cruel and painful death.” Again, what kind of insulting statement is this about the care good doctors, nurses, palliative care workers, etc. extend to their patients? The insinuation that these models of purest compassion, patience and skill would deny modern medical care and the most sophisticated treatments available (we are a first world country) to a dying person is ludicrous and must be refuted vociferously.
This Sunday, Nov. 11, we remember the deaths of our soldiers, those who died anonymously in battle many years ago. Our entire nation stops to remember them. At the same time, our entire nation is doing everything so that 13,070 babies and the 3,700 people can die by abortion and/or euthanasia anonymously, quietly away from our sight, to be forgotten. Is this what those service men and women died for? So that we can have a society that chooses death anonymously and no one calls it for what it is?
“Lest we forget” is in the forefront of everyone’s mind. Lest we forget that these veterans thought our lives so valuable that they were prepared to give theirs -- so that we may live. May this sacrifice never be forgotten. Every life is valuable from fertilization until natural death - including Ms. Audrey Parker.
- Pat Wiedemer is executive director, P.E.I. Right to Life Association
