Just one day after Americans remembered Plymouth Colony and the Pilgrims who survived their first harsh winter, the country they fled moved one step closer to killing its own citizens.
Lawmakers in Great Britain on Friday voted in favor of assisted dying for citizens in England and Wales who meet certain strict criteria.
Dying to be permissive, governments are tumbling down a slippery slope.
Be informed, not misled.
After five hours of emotional debate, the proposal passed the House of Commons 330-275.
Former British prime ministers Boris Johnson, Theresa May and Liz Truss all opposed the legislation, The Daily Mail reported.
To qualify for assistance, applicants must be over the age of 18, diagnosed with a terminal illness, and have been given no more than six months to live.
Two doctors and a judge would be required to give their approval, and the fatal drugs would have to be self-administered, The New York Times reported.
Life is sacred, and politicians lie.
Legislators have set such hurdles and limits before, only to strip them away later. Such is the case in Canada and its Medical Assistance In Dying program, or MAID, which was legalized eight years ago to "ease the pain and suffering of the terminally ill."
Like some horror movie, Canada's suicide program has since expanded to try to kill a disabled war veteran, Christine Gauthier. The well-known Paralympian, who was living a happy life, went public after she repeatedly asked the Dept. of Veterans Affairs for a wheelchair ramp only to be repeatedly encouraged to kill herself instead.
Canada's MAID expanded in 2021 to include Canadians with chronic pain and will now expand in 2027 to help kill people who suffer from mental illness.
“It's very sad," Father Calvin Robinson, a parish priest and conservative media figure, said on American Family Radio Monday.
"But it shows that we've lost our core moral compass in the United Kingdom," Robinson continued, "because unless you are centered on something, and I would say that something should be Jesus Christ, but unless you're centered on something, you'll believe anything."
Robinson told show host Jenna Ellis that a move that many see as filled with compassion is way off the mark.
“They’re sending the message out there that to be compassionate, we have to end people's suffering, and by ending people's suffering, what they mean is ending their lives,” Robinson said.
Robinson said suffering in life is unavoidable. The better approach is to be available to help people during their suffering, not to end life and move on.
“Surely the compassionate thing to do is to be with people in their suffering, because suffering isn't something we can avoid," he said. "We all go through suffering as horrible as it is at the time, but the true sense of love is to be with that person in their suffering. Actually, quite often, we're able to come out of that suffering, whether it's physical suffering or mental suffering."
Tory Danny Kruger, in response to the matter of assisted killing, said: "This is a poorly drafted and flawed Bill which crosses a dangerous moral Rubicon from which there was no return."
Mr. Kruger said it promoted the idea that "individual worth lies only in our utility, that we are valuable only as long as we are useful, not a burden, not a cost, not making a mess."
Assisted suicide and euthanasia are rare in the US. Right?
It's not as rare in the U.S. as you might think.
Assisted dying is already legal in a handful of European countries, as well as in New Zealand, 10 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.
California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington are among the U.S. states providing the service.
Like Robinson, Frank Pavone, a former Catholic priest and founder of Priests for Life, is a noted pro-life advocate.
If assisted suicide becomes law in the U.K., Pavone told Ellis it will expand just like it has in Canada.
In Ontario, Canada, euthanasia regulators have tracked 428 cases of possible criminal violations but have not referred a single case to law enforcement, The New Atlantis reported.
“If the argument behind this is choice, then why are there any limits at all, and how can you justify maintaining those limits? Guaranteed, guaranteed just like what happened with abortion. You put this in there in the law with certain limits, and just let enough time go by, and those limits will go away,” Pavone said.
Lawmakers will give in to the argument of “choice,” he warns.
“If in fact this is my autonomous choice to escape my suffering, and to end my life, well then tell me why one person's suffering is considered worse than someone else's. Suffering is very subjective,” he said.
Pavone said that for lawmakers to decide otherwise, there will not be equal protection under the law.
“And that’s not fair," he said. "Guaranteed that will be the argument, and that argument will prevail.”
Meanwhile, birth rates are declining in the U.K., falling by 3.1% in 2022 in England and Wales compared to the previous year. It was the lowest birth rate in 20 years.
At the same time, abortion has been on the rise through 2021--the most recent government numbers.
If any state sanctions assisted suicide, decisions will be made with emphasis on the bottom line, he said. The books have to balance, he warned, and a cost/benefit analysis will be performed.
"The question has to be asked, is it cheaper to kill this person or keep them on medication? Is it cheaper to give them surgery or end their life?” Robinson said.
He warns that these questions aren’t asked out loud but will certainly be asked in conversations about the care of vulnerable individuals.
The biblical view of death.
The overriding truth that God is sovereign drives us to the conclusion that euthanasia and assisted suicide are wrong. We know that physical death is inevitable for us mortals (Psalm 89:48; Hebrews 9:27). However, God alone is sovereign over when and how a person’s death occurs. Job testifies in Job 30:23, “I know you will bring me down to death, to the place appointed for all the living.” Ecclesiastes 8:8 declares, “No man has power over the wind to contain it; so no one has power over the day of his death.” God has the final say over death (see 1 Corinthians 15:26, 54–56; Hebrews 2:9, 14–15; Revelation 21:4). Euthanasia and assisted suicide are man’s attempts to usurp that authority from God.
God cares about those who cry out for death and wish to end their suffering. God gives purpose in life, even to the end. Only God knows what is best, and His timing is perfect, even in the matter of one’s death.
Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Faithful. Be Strong. Be Prayerful.