Euthanasia Continues to Devastate Canada

Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide, , , ,

Stories out of Canada continue to underscore how devastating euthanasia has been for people living there and for the nation’s healthcare system as a whole.

The Canadian Parliament first legalized so-called “Medical Aid in Dying” in 2016. The goal was to let terminally ill people end their lives via assisted suicide, but Canadians have since seen the practice expand under a deadly bait and switch.

In the past decade, “Medical Aid in Dying” has claimed an estimated 100,000 lives and now accounts for one in 20 Canadian deaths. Next year, the country could expand assisted suicide to include people suffering solely from mental health conditions like anxiety or depression. Canadian healthcare officials have even suggested euthanasia be extended to “babies from birth to one year of age who come into the world with severe deformities and very serious syndromes.”

Earlier this year, Texas Right to Life shared a sobering story about Kristin, a wife and mother diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer while living in Canada. Canadian healthcare officials told Kristin that assisted suicide was her only option. Instead, Kristin came to the U.S., where she received surgery and aggressive treatments that saved her life.

Over the summer, a story surfaced about a Canadian grandmother euthanized under “Medical Aid in Dying.” The elderly woman reportedly suffered from poor health, including cognitive problems. The grandmother originally said she did not want to die by assisted suicide, but testimony from her family alleges healthcare professionals misled her about the assisted suicide process and did not get final verbal consent to “assisted suicide” before giving her a lethal injection.

When it comes to assisted suicide and euthanasia, the slippery slope keeps slipping.

Assisted suicide and euthanasia devastate families and rob patients of compassionate care.

In the U.S., assisted suicide has been promoted due to its relatively low cost compared to healthcare. In some cases, insurance companies have refused to pay for patients’ medical care, but have offered to cover assisted-suicide drugs.

You cannot put a price tag on human life. Being pro-life means believing innocent human life is sacred from conception until natural death.

Just like abortion, euthanasia and assisted suicide are murder, and they violate the sanctity of human life.

That’s why Family Council helped defeat a very bad bill in 2019 that would have let doctors prescribe lethal drugs to patients in Arkansas and two bad end-of-life bills in 2021. These were flawed measures that fundamentally disrespected the right to life.

We plan to continue working with our friends across the state to protect Arkansans from assisted suicide and euthanasia.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

READ MORE

Pennsylvania School District Backs Down After Hiding Kids’ Gender Transitions From Parents

LGBT, , , ,

Our friends at Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) say a Pennsylvania school district has rescinded a policy that required teachers to hide students’ social transitions from parents.

The Chester County Intermediate Unit 24 School District had a policy mandating that staff use students’ preferred names and pronouns at school while keeping parents in the dark. Teachers who refused to go along with the policy faced disciplinary action.

After attorneys from Alliance Defending Freedom and the Independence Law Center sent a letter outlining the policy’s constitutional violations, the district backed down and rescinded the policy.

This is good news, but the situation should never have happened in the first place.

We have written before about how pro-LGBT activists have used public schools to promote transgender ideology and gender confusion to kids in many different ways.

Schools have been hiding important information about students from their parents. A New York school district secretly treated a middle-school girl as if she were a boy without her mother’s knowledge or consent. A Massachusetts school helped an eleven-year-old girl “socially transition” without her parents ever being told. And earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with parents challenging California’s secret gender transition policy — a strong signal that these policies violate the law.

Public school students should not be taught to question their gender, and schools should not lie to parents about what their children are experiencing at school.

Arkansas has been a leader when it comes to passing laws that block radical pro-LGBT ideology in the classroom and help prevent schools from socially transitioning children. Arkansas’ Given Name Act and other good laws protect children and affirm parental rights in our state.

Last month, Family Council joined an amicus brief defending parental rights in a federal lawsuit before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, because federal court cases like it could affect schools nationwide. That’s why it’s important for us to stand up for students and parents in court.

Parents are not the enemy. They are the first and most important line of defense for their children. No school should ever be allowed to cut them out.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

READ MORE

Released Time for Religious Instruction Expanding in Other States

Education, , , ,

Recent news reports highlight how more and more, public school students in other states are able to leave campus during the day for religious instruction — something commonly known as “released time.”

Released time makes it possible for students to be excused from school so they can attend Bible studies or other religious classes during normal school hours. Thanks to federal court rulings, released time programs have been in operation for decades — and in some states it’s growing.

Earlier this year, our friends at Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) reported that Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signed a bill into law that formally recognizes released time programs. The law outlines how parents may have their children briefly excused from school during the day to receive free religious instruction off-campus. Last month, the Alabama Daily News highlighted how released time in the state has expanded since the law’s passage.

In August, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported that released time growing in Arkansas’ public schools as well.

Arkansas does not have a state law outlining how released time works, but released programs operate in the state under federal court rulings. Generally speaking, released time in Arkansas requires three components:

  1. A church or other organization that wants to fund and conduct a released time program off-campus.
  2. School board approval for a policy authorizing students to leave campus for released time during school hours.
  3. Parental consent for the student to participate in the program.

Once a church or other group properly plans and prepares to operate a released time program, they can go to the local school board to seek approval and then collaborate with the school district to set the best time in the day for a released time program.

As long as the program meets off-campus, obtains parental consent, and is privately funded, then the school board may authorize the program.

The private entity that oversees the released time program is encouraged to work with the local school district and school board to set up a mutually agreeable schedule that benefits students. If planned correctly, released time programs generally do not conflict with a student’s core courses like math or English.

In June, the organization LifeWise Academy shared ways it is expanding released time opportunities for students in Arkansas.

LifeWise serves more than 1,200 students at approximately a dozen locations across the state. The program is expected to continue to grow in the coming year.

Family Council hopes to work with state and local policymakers in the future to promote released time programs and help pass a law formally recognizing released time in Arkansas.

If you are interested in starting a released time program in your community, you are welcome to contact our office at 501-375-7000 for more information.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

READ MORE