Life Links 5/19/10

The National Post has an editorial responding to the reaction of pro-choice politicians and pundits who were incensed when Cardinal in Canada expressed the Catholic Church's position on abortion.

Like many religious Christians, strictly observant Catholics typically regard all fetuses as carrying the divine spark of human life. And so they urge that the tragedy or rape should not be compounded by a second moral tragedy.

Not that you would know any of this from the freaked out reaction by many pro-choice politicians and pundits. Parti Quebecois leader Pauline Marois said she was "completely outraged" by the Cardinal's remarks. A columnist with Montreal's La Presse newspaper, Patrick Lagace, said he wished that the Cardinal "dies from a long and painful illness." Even Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Josee Verner -- whose international maternal-health policies the Cardinal supports -- declared that the man's remarks were "unacceptable."

When, exactly, did it become "unacceptable" for a man of faith to articulate his Church's position on a controversial bioethical issue?

Wesley Smith vs. Peter Singer on Robot Rights and human exceptionalism.


The Canadian Medical Association Journal has printed a paper by researchers who surveyed Belgian physicians about their role in euthanasia deaths. The results show about a third of deaths were caused by physicians who didn't get the consent of their patients before killing them.

Results: The response rate was 58.4%. Overall, 208 deaths involving the use of life-ending drugs were reported: 142 (weighted prevalence 2.0%) were with an explicit patient request (euthanasia or assisted suicide) and 66 (weighted prevalence 1.8%) were without an explicit request. Euthanasia and assisted suicide mostly involved patients less than 80 years of age, those with cancer and those dying at home. Use of life-ending drugs without an explicit request mostly involved patients 80 years of older, those with a disease other than cancer and those in hospital. Of the deaths without an explicit request, the decision was not discussed with the patient in 77.9% of cases.

At the Intellectual Conservative blog, Rachel Alexander resigns from the Arizona Right to Life board after the Arizona RTL-PAC decided to endorse John McCain over J.D. Hayworth.