A step backward, not forwards

A demonstration opposing euthanasia in Portugal / Morning Star 

A footnote to last week’s story about the narrow defeat of euthanasia in Portugal’s parliament. The vote was 115-110 and failed because the Communist Party opposes euthanasia. Communist MP Antonio Filipe explained why in the Morning Star, a British socialist newspaper (once known as the Daily Worker):

[Euthanasia is] “not as a sign of progress but a step towards civilisational retrogression with profound social, behavioural and ethical implications.

“In a context in which the value of human life is frequently made conditional on criteria of social utility, economic interest, family responsibilities and burdens or public spending, legalisation of early death would add a new dimension of problems.

“First of all accelerating the deaths of those to whom society refuses to respond and support in situations of fragility and need. Faced with human suffering, the solution is not to divest society of responsibility by promoting early death but to ensure conditions for a dignified life.”

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Michael Cook

Michael Cook edits BioEdge, a bioethics newsletter, and MercatorNet, an on-line magazine whose focus is human dignity. He writes from Sydney, Australia.

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