Margaret Somerville, internationally known bioethicist and Professor of Bioethics at the University of Notre Dame Australia’s school of medicine, has spent over four decades researching and writing on the issue of euthanasia. Professor Somerville latest essay outlines the well traversed playbook of euthanasia activists around the world in this time. It always begins with claims that if legalised, euthanasia will only be rarely used and only as a last resort. Secondly they claim that it will not open up slippery slopes. Continue reading

In a telling interview, a representative for Exit International – a controversial group that promotes euthanasia and assisted suicide as a fundamental human right for anyone over the age of 50 – has stated that their group are owed gratitude for their efforts to push wide-ranging euthanasia laws. Continue reading

Dear Members of the South Australian House of Assembly, Continue reading

Disability campaigners in the UK are fighting new attempts to legalise euthanasia and assisted suicide in the country. A new bill introduced by Baroness Meacher received its first reading in the House of Lords on 26 May 2021 and is likely to be debated later this year. Continue reading

Queensland is on the brink of legalising euthanasia, but it only has a third of the recommended number of palliative care beds and half the recommended number of doctors. Continue reading

The right of faith based hospitals and nursing homes to refuse to provide euthanasia and assisted suicide on their premises has been dealt a blow by the draft legislation introduced by the Queensland government. Whilst faith based entities had been led to believe that the draft legislation would protect them from having to allow euthanasia on their premises, the legislation introduced this week requires them to transfer a person who qualifies for euthanasia to somewhere else that allows it, or in other circumstances, allow the killing to take place on their premises. Continue reading

The slow but steady expansion of euthanasia laws is already evident in Australia, according to a recent analysis published in The Australian. Continue reading

The Queensland Law Reform Commission handed down its report into euthanasia and assisted suicide to the state government and has drafted a bill which will be introduced into the Queensland parliament next week. Continue reading

“Rather than unmanageable pain, the impetus for those accessing the law – the vast majority late-stage cancer patients – is usually what doctors term “existential suffering”. As people lose function, independence and joy, they yearn, above all, to regain a sense of control.” Continue reading

The South Australian Government, through its Office for Ageing Well, has launched a campaign to stop elder abuse in the community. Continue reading