Euthanasia And Abortion – Profound Hypocrisy!
was refused the right to end her life!
Friends, last night I saw a television program which greatly upset me. I went to bed my mind in turmoil. I felt real fear wondering what the future might hold for me.
For the first time I saw the bizarre, contradictory connection between abortion, which is the easy to obtain, legalized killing of innocent, unborn children and the refusal by our Australian Government (and many others) to legalize euthanasia which would allowing someone who is suffering extreme pain and degrading physical trauma to end their lives in a peaceful, painless way.
The show (Q&A) detailed the death of a young woman called Angelique, who, suffering from advanced colon cancer, was vomiting up faeces and suffering terrible pain. Her video showed her begging for release from her hideous ordeal, begging authorities to legalize euthanasia so that others would not have to suffer as she was doing. A nurse from the audience then detailed cases of people in hospital who, in the late stages of diseases, bled from every orifice in their body.
Two self-righteous politicians on the panel, from both sides of the political spectrum, stoutly defended their opposition to euthanasia using the tired old argument that it might open the door to exploitation of the dying.
The terrible irony is that the same politicians have legalized the right of a woman to go to a clinic and abort (kill) her unborn child. Even those who are late term can obtain such services and their lives do not necessarily have to be in danger nor does their child need to have some terrible affliction. It can be done on a whim and I know because I have had two bitter experiences with such a situation. Both left me scarred.
The bottom line is that we live in a society where the killing of innocent babies by their mothers is entirely legal and considered right and proper but, ironically, it is not right and proper or legal to allow a human being who is suffering terribly the right to decide that they no longer wish to continue with their lives and to assist them to die with peace and dignity.
Either killing is wrong or it is right. It appears that in our world some kinds of killing are approved of whereas other forms of killing are condemned.
Such an extreme dichotomy clearly exposes human absurdity and irrationality.
SOCRATES: AN ICON.
Driven as it is by an extreme religious, militarist, corporatist, racist, greed-based ideology, the U.S. MUST NOT BE ALLOWED TO GAIN CONTROL OF THE WORLD!!
I’m against the death penalty.
For euthanasia.
Against abortion.
Odd mix.
Q
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oh God.
These are hard topics.
I am for:
Abortion : freedom of choice to the mother. no society, god, person can force two individuals (mother and baby) to live what may turn into a life long torture, rather than don t come into existence at all).
Death penalty – I don t know. with our legal systems, may give space to abuse. innocent have been killed. I don t know.
Euthanasia – freedom of choice to an incurable individual assessed by a extensive panel of honest specialists, who can certify he is truly dying regardless, and he is in his right mind ( to avoid ABUSE by interested individuals around the dying person, family, beneficiaries of testament etc… you would be surprised).
These are hard topics.
Bless the ones who are in these situation, and bless you all, so that none of us and our dears ever reach that situation.
Peace and health to all
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Difficult topics indeed, Adina and Q but they do expose the irrationality of humans to say nothing of their infinite capacity to be two-faced.
Cheers.
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Those people slowly dying in incredible pain and under degrading circumstances should not be denied, by law, to end their lives, with the help of medical personnel, if willing. Any government that gets in the way of this individual right to avoid such horrible suffering, is evil.
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The irony, Swans, is that the same folk who force people to suffer so terribly allow a mother to kill her unborn child, even one that is fully formed, without any censure or regulation.
It is a situation that defies comprehension! We show compassion for the pregnant mother even if her motives for termination may be questionable, yet little for the suffering of the terminally ill and none for the unborn child.
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I am completely inline with Adinna’s thinking on the matters of abortion, death penalty and euthanasia. They are difficult choices and in the case of euthanasia and abortion, nobody should be forced into making a decision one way or the other. It is an individual choice and only they can decide and face the possible emotional consequences of their decision.
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I just want to add to the Chorus, euthanasia and abortion are the most difficult questions that humans face under normal circumstances. I have switched sides on the abortion debate several times in my life. I have a saying, life is an art not a science,
perhaps that applies to these subjects.
When I first started saying that life is an art not a science I had in mind the question, when is the use of force justified to combat injustice?
Many leftist say never because the use of forces has such negative long term side effects. Many other leftist say the use of force is often justified because peaceful means require longer to be effective and the short term negative consequences (usually the loss of human life) for not recognizing that urgency is required are to high.
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Ah Lucy, if only it were an individual choice. Those dying in agony and the terminated child have no choice at all!
Buddha, I don’t see it as a left-right issue, more a moral issue. How moral is is to force people to suffer terribly for months or years? How moral is it to kill unborn babies unless the child is imperfect or the mother is at genuine risk?
Cheers.
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I agree, actually.
I oppose abortion, certainly after it has moved from being an embryo to reaching the foetal stage (11 weeks). By this time, it is clearly identifiable as human and indeed has all the relevant organs in miniature.
After this point, it’s murder.
But if someone desires to leave this world and its domonstrable and incontrovertable fact that not only is their life a total misery to them, but there is no prospect that it can ever be made otherwise, it is cruelty, pure cruelty, to inflict that suffering on them further against their will.
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Crushed, you make an interesting point about the eleven week progression and I thank you for your input into this complicated and controversial issue.
That means, of course, that a foetus that is 76 days old, (or 75, or 74, etc) can be killed without a twinge of conscience for either the mother or society while one that is 77 days old should be preserved otherwise it’s murder.
We humans do complicate things, don’t we? What was that song: What a Difference a Day Makes!
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You either think life is the most valuable creation or you don’t. If you don’t, then killing is ok.
Sometimes you must kill one life to protect other lives. I support someone taking a life under two conditions:
1. It is their own (and they have what is considered good mental health). This is why I support euthanasia.
2. It is intended to stop someone that is unprovokedly and intentionally trying to harm another person – this is why I oppose capital punishment (the person is subdued) and abortion (the unborn is incapable).
Q
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I like the way you have reasoned your position, Q. It largely mirrors my own.
Cheers.
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We need to respect women enough to allow them complete autonomy over their body and reproductive choices, and the right to medical treatment of their choice. Government should not interfere. Also, each woman needs to let her conscience be her guide, and be a good citizen of this earth. Have a great day.
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It’s a contentious issue, Swans. Having control of their body and reproductive choices seems reasonable. However, a problem arises when such control involves the life or death of another.
Cheers.
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How is this for a summary?
If we had societies in which people were
properly developed in to psychologically sane and mature individuals, holding positions in just and sustainable economies, in which women were not raped, and birth control was easily available the need for abortions would be very rare. Abortion could be made even more rare by understanding what things we do to our environment that cause an increase in birth defects. Although some would no doubt say that a child with birth defects should not be aborted others would disagree and would have abortions if they could so rather than argue about the wrongness of the others position I argue that it would be easier to eliminate birth defects than change the other sides position.
The Central Committee slogan for the day is, “Eliminate the desire for abortions.”
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im FOR volutary euthanasia like this case
but AGAINST involutary euthanasia.
and i do agree with u that the world is f***ed up.humans are no longer humans.the world is doomed….
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for what reason should it be ok to kill a embryo when they don’t have the choice to be made but it is ok to kill them??? But then you say oh that is ok for someone to kill another just for the sake of it do u really know what they do. IT is not that they are takeing a loved one off a feeding tube, or a venelator, ect. It is that of an overdose of a drug meant for harm or simply placing a bag of that persons head and suffacating them to death are these really such things what we sould say YES that is perfectly ok to do??
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“for what reason should it be ok to kill a embryo when they don’t have the choice to be made but it is ok to kill them??? B ”
It’s nobody’s damn business except the women who is carrying it. It’s her body her decision, end of story.
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I found out recently that my mother’s mother ended her own life by her own hand. I feel baffled that she did that. I know she had some health issues , but in her 70’s that was normal. I still don’t know how i feel or if it is any of my business to have an opinion on her decision.
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i feel that in this case she should be able to legally kill herself. sure she wont get the insurance money but she will no longer be in a suffering pain.
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Aside from where I stand, I will pray each and every night for people such as her…this is absolute Hell.
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i think all of it is wrong!
the only person who has a right to take a human life is God!!!
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Phill Reply:
April 22nd, 2009 at 9:37 pm
Um I didn’t know God was a person how nice. Have you got his/her telephone number I will give them a ring for the lotto numbers.
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Well, here is yet another issue like gay marriage that should be a non-issue. We have real problems in this wretched world, people, and problems aplenty. Abortion is nothing anyone wants to do. It’s a terrible choice to have to make, but sometimes people have to. These anti-abortion fruitcakes are almost always people who have never been put in that position. Standing outside a clinic harrassing people who already feel horrible enough about having to do this is reprehensible, as well. How about attacking the real criminals here? The politicians and corporations who have made this a world where moreand more of us wage-slave peasantsare forced to do such a thing? My son is an only child because he had to be, not because we wanted him to be. We can barely keep a roof over his head. Society forces people to sacrifice a would-be life to save two or three others. That’s the goddamn crime.
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Religion seems to be the underlying problem here, Phil and Late Revolution. While ever people believe in fantasies we just can’t get to deal with our human reality in a commonsense, practical way.
Cheers.
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Phill Reply:
April 23rd, 2009 at 1:55 pm
Indeed David indeed! Of course and what they all share in common is, there is no room for any other Gods except theirs and the one they believe in is the only one, and hence here lies the paradox.
But the real trip is the religious nutters all share the same character traits, that they are all creeps.Some of the pulpit cranks out of the good ol U.S.A. make my skin crawl, especially the T.V. evangelists who are mostly by any yard stick, barking mad.But having said that, they are as cunning as shit house rats most of them, they know the average Joe in the street is as dumb as a bag of hammers, and they play on it to relieve them of their cash.
I mean at the end of the day it’s a cash cow that keeps on giving, cause only fools and horses like work and that is a fact, unlike the snake oil they are selling.
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Hear hear, Late Revolution.
I just returned from the grocery store at dinner time and there was one group of at 7 anxious kids and the adult buying soda only -and them looking at my cart filled with food, hungrily. They were obviously hungry and what was worse they chose to use their little money to buy one big sugar soda to give them energy. There is alot of this. That was only one group- hungry and desperate people were on every side of me tonite.
It is a cruel world because ignorance is king and has ruled a long time now.
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Therese Reply:
May 19th, 2009 at 9:39 am
Women who choose an abortion should not be judged by others, especially since there is no guarantee that they will be there later to help her raise the tot. It is a hell of a decision to have to make, and I know of noone who made it lightly. During the first three months, I do not think that the foetus is developed enough to feel physical pain.
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I not saying all of this is wrong or bad Im just wondering. Im a catholic and I still believe the euthanasia is a good Idea but what do we suppose to do we can bitch and complain about it on this form but seriously how do we suppose to fight a world were killing innocent unborn babies is alright?
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David G Reply:
May 18th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
We can be judged by the way we treat our children, JesusLover!
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I’m surprised that you are anti-abortion, David G. Number 9 on your world danger list is overpopulation. Shouldn’t every child born be a wanted child?
I work in an ER. I’ve seen plenty of spontaneous abortions, known as miscarriages. I challenge any of you to pick the “baby” out of the mess of blood clots and tissue. You may think it’s fully formed, because you’ve seen magnified pictures in books. It’s just another blob of tissue to the naked eye.
In the old days, when people were closer to life and death issues, a baby wasn’t a baby until it took it’s first breath. Later they decided it was a person when the mother felt it kick. This whole fertilized egg being a person theory is very recent, and not very realistic, in my opinion.
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David G Reply:
May 19th, 2009 at 8:15 pm
In some circumstances I believe that abortion is right, Wagelaborer. But using it as a method of birth control seems somewhat barbaric and entirely unnecessary.
Why create life then destroy it?
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