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Euthanasia is sweeping America
By Anthony Moreno, age 15
March 21, 2005
An epidemic is sweeping America. An epidemic which puts the government in the position of supporting and advocating suicide. A disease which will infect the morals and values in the medical world, until they no longer have any effect. A mindset which will lead America on paths to immoral places where she never intended to go. Euthanasia is sweeping America.
In this speech I will take an in depth look at the reality of euthanasia. I will be dealing specifically with voluntary euthanasia because that practice is generally more inherent than involuntary euthanasia in America today. I will argue four points under voluntary euthanasia. I will do this while analyzing a specific act proposed to the California legislature which may be considered a model voluntary euthanasia practice. But first let me define voluntary euthanasia.
AB 654 will aid us in our definition of voluntary euthanasia. The bill was introduced to the California legislature by Assemblyman Lloyd Levine and Assembly woman Patty Berg in order to allow “physician-assisted” suicide. Physician-assisted suicide as defined under the bill is the right to request lethal drugs by the “terminally-ill” who have only six-months to live. The so-called helpless patients then self-administer the drugs with the intent to end their lives. Physician-assisted suicide is more commonly known as doctor-assisted suicide or voluntary euthanasia.
The first problem with voluntary euthanasia is that it is biblically wrong. Psalm 71:9 states, “Do not cast me off when I am old, do not forsake me when my strength is gone,” and Proverbs 24:11, “Rescue those being led away to death, hold back those staggering towards slaughter.” Both of these state that we should do the opposite of voluntary euthanasia. Physician-assisted suicide will cast off the old, it will forsake those whose strength is failing. It will not rescue those being led away to death, it will not hold back those staggering towards slaughter. Voluntary Euthanasia goes directly against the will of God.
On April 12, I had the opportunity to sit in on the judicial committee hearing on AB 654. One argument that the supporters of AB 654 repeatedly referred to astounded me. They pointed out examples of people in the depression of despair that jumped off buildings or shot themselves in the head; and asserted how much more “humane” it would be if these people had a pill to take. How they had to resort to a cruel death because there wasn’t an easier way to get out of their misery. But I must ask how many of these people had only six months to live? How many were terminally-ill? How many would have qualified for the pill had it been available? Virtually every example that these legislators were referring to were instances of suicide based on depression or despair. This proves that the real intent of the bill proposed, is not to give choices to the elderly, but to provide an easier way to commit suicide. A statistic from Oregon informs us that a majority of people applying for the life-ending pill aren’t terminally ill, but want the pill to relieve depression. Voluntary euthanasia is not death with dignity nor is it a compassionate choice for the elderly, it is government supported, government advocated suicide.
The third objection to voluntary euthanasia and AB 654 is that it violates the morals and values in the medical world. The Hippocratic Oath was written in 400 BC by Hippocrates, a Greek physician. The oath stands as the foundation for morals and values in the medical world. Virtually every graduating physician today takes the Hippocratic Oath upon graduation form medical school. On the morality of doctor-assisted suicide it is very clear. It says…
I will neither give a deadly drug to anyone who asks for it, nor will I make a suggestion to such an effect. I will not use the knife, not even on sufferers of stone.
This oath confirms that physician-assisted suicide breaches the very foundation for morals and values in the medical world. The code, which doctors are obligated to uphold, is violated by doctor-assisted suicide, and AB 654. This explains why the American Medical Association and the Californian Medical Association both oppose AB 654. Doctors do not want to break the oath that they swore to uphold. Doctors do not want to have to make life or death decisions, because they know they are not infallible. They do not want to throw all morals to the side and open up the floodgates to all types of other immoral practices. Doctors don’t support AB 654 because it violates morals in the medical profession.
The final point under voluntary euthanasia is the mindset which comes with doctor-assisted suicide. The current mindset of doctors is to heal their patients. They have the goal to fight to the end for the life of their patient. They value that person’s life. But if AB 654 is allowed, doctors will be put in a mindset which implies to only help patients if they measure up to a certain standard. Once their patient hits a certain point of no return, there is no hope; their only comfort is in a pain free controlled death. No hope of life. Life is so devalued that it no longer deserves to be fought for until the end. This mentality that once life hits a certain point, it is a hopeless situation and should be brought to an end immediately sets the medical world in the pathway that leads to all types of immoralities, one of them being eugenics.
Eugenics is the selective breeding of humans in order to produce a superior race. It is based on the belief that life should be determined by its instrumental value, not its inherent value. In effect, if someone has a certain characteristic which is “abnormal” or “unworthy” that person no longer deserves to live. When we combine the immoral atmosphere of physician-assisted suicide, and the mindset that life has no value; a breeding ground for eugenics is created.
History has proven this flow, from voluntary euthanasia to eugenics throughout history with two examples immediately coming to mind.
The first example is Nazi Germany. In October of 1939, Adolph Hitler issued the Aktion T-4, which enable the “elimination of life unworthy of life.” At first the old and aching were killed, a normal doctor-assisted suicide practice. But it soon developed into the horrid “mercy killings” in which 200,000 people deemed in “painful” situations were brutally murdered. The euthanasia program in fact started the Nazi empire down the road to the 6 million deaths of the Jewish Holocaust. As this example proves, the end result of voluntary euthanasia is a eugenics program.
The second example is that of the modern day Netherlands. In 2002, the Netherlands became the first modern civilization to legalize doctor-assisted suicide. According to Karl Gunning, founder and president of World Federation of Doctors Who Respect Life, there are about 26,000 cases of euthanasia each year in the Netherlands, making up 20% of the entire death toll for the country. 14,961 of these deaths are involuntary, or almost 60% of the all the euthanasia procedures are involuntary. 12% percent of all the people in this modern day society die without the knowledge or consent given to the doctor who kills them. Furthermore, 72% of the doctors lie about voluntary euthanasia being the real cause of death and falsify the death certificates as “normal” or “natural causes” of death.
In the Netherlands, doctors have a new strategy that that arose from the practice of euthanasia. Doctors are now categorizing infants in 3 groups: 1) normal newborns, 2) babies who have a poor chance of survival or will have a poor quality of life if they do survive, and 3) babies who are “terminally ill” and will not survive for long. Many questions arise when examining this procedure: questions like: what is the definition of terminally ill, what is a normal baby and how is it different from the second or third groups, what happens to the children in the second and third groups? The last question is answered when it is revealed that doctors throughout the country of the Netherlands are aborting newborn babies using this system. Keep in mind that this horrible system started with a voluntary euthanasia program. It is clear that AB 654 or any voluntary euthanasia program will lead to eugenics.
Earlier in this speech I stated that euthanasia is sweeping America. This is shown through the recent legalizing of voluntary euthanasia in the state of Oregon. The recent involuntary murder of Terry Schiavo; and the esteem given to a pro-euthanasia movie at this last years Oscar awards, “Million Dollar Baby”. In fact, a recent poll shows that 60 percent of Americans, support doctor-assisted suicide. Do these Americans really understand what they are supporting? Voluntary Euthanasia is setup under the guise of mercy, and choices; but do most Americans know that it violates the moral code of doctor practitioners. That it is not choices or mercy, but government advocacy of suicide. That it started the horrible Jewish Holocaust. That it leads to the practice of eugenics. America is being deceived! She is being deceived into thinking that this practice is actually compassionate and merciful. As for myself, I do not think the practice that led to 6 million Jewish men, women and children being massacred, the practice that has led doctors to abort innocent young children could possibly be merciful. America has choices to make, fall in line with the agenda of secular European states, or resist indoctrination of a brutal and depraved practice. America is being deceived.
Alexis de Tocqueville, a French writer, observed America throughout the early 1800’s. He published his observance of the American way of government is a college textbook still studied today. At the end of his journeys was said to have found the key to America’s greatness. He is quoted as saying:"America is great, because America is good. If she ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great."
America must never pass outside the line of moral boundaries. Allowing voluntary euthanasia would liken America to stepping over the side of a moral cliff, only to find that the only hope of safe crossing was just passing wisp of clouds. Voluntary Euthanasia will send America plummeting from greatness. America is being deceived! It is our responsibility to act before the American public is sold over to the agenda of euthanasia.
Anthony Moreno is a 15 year old home-educated student who lives in California. He gave this speech as a persuasive speech in a National Christian Forensic and Communication Association qualifying Tournament. He hopes to persuade and educate men and women about the true practice of euthanasia. If you have any questions about the speech feel free to email him at ajmoreno@covad.net
