Media Release: #DefendNZ relaunches to protect vulnerable New Zealanders from assisted suicide and euthanasia

#DefendNZ has officially relaunched today, Sunday 7 November, in order to fight for the protection of vulnerable New Zealanders against the dangers of the End of Life Choice Act (EOLCA).

By #DefendNZ.

“Some may have wrongly assumed that this debate was over now that the EOLCA has come into force, when what this actually means is that our advocacy for the vulnerable put at risk by this law is more critical than ever before” says #DefendNZ spokesperson Henoch Kloosterboer.

“Today our nation has undergone one of the most seismic shifts in law, healthcare and medical ethics in its entire history. As of this moment, some New Zealanders now wield the state-sanctioned legal power to deliberately end the lives of others, or to assist in their suicides.” 

“To think that there will be no harms that will come from this is to be unaware of the many problems unfolding overseas in the limited number of places that have also legalised these practices – and this includes the harm of wrongful killings” says Kloosterboer.

When it comes to the EOLCA, the key areas of advocacy for Defend NZ will be to protect, expose and improve – with the wellbeing and safety of euthanasia-vulnerable New Zealanders as #DefendNZ’s primary motivation and reason for existence.

“We will protect patients, families and medical practitioners from the harms of the EOLCA. We will expose illegal practices and abuses of the vulnerable in order to ensure greater accountability. We will seek to improve this deficient law with amendments to the Act, lobbying the Government, and supporting those who truly care” says Henoch Kloosterboer. Today #DefendNZ has officially launched its brand new website:

www.defendnz.co.nz

Over the coming weeks it will be releasing six amendments that urgently need to be made to limit the harms of the EOLCA, along with a petition that the public can put their name to.

Martin comments: What concerns me, is not the right for someone to end a slow and agonising terminal illness through their own wish and consent, (yes I’ve watched several friends rot away from the ravages of cancer) but the potential for abuse lurking within the Act. This is highly personal for me. Assisting suicide for mental health reasons could, under other circumstances, have seen someone very precious to me gone and their life wasted. This amazing individual has now, with love and support, made a complete turn-around and is flourishing and shining like the sun.

The lack of mental health support in NZ is disgusting, and our current government shows no signs of funding or supporting mental health initiatives but are more than happy to help the depressed and anxious end their lives. An anti-life bias is quite evident.

Don’t tell me that eugenics and mandated euthanasia “will never happen”: Mandatory medication “will never happen” as recently as the first half of this year, yet, as we all know, it has happened. Our government has demonstrated its propensity for mandate by insidious means (discussed by myself at the BFD here: The BFD | A Mandate or a Choice?)

The connection between EOLCA and the Vaccine Certificate is something I will elaborate upon in a self-authored blog in the very near future (being drafted right now). Meanwhile we must ensure that the EOLCA is carefully regulated and limited regardless of where your feelings lay. The Act may be here, but we must not let it be stealthily progressed to the point where “that will never happen” becomes “How the hell did this happen”.