{"id":236854,"date":"2020-12-26T11:13:23","date_gmt":"2020-12-26T17:13:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=236854"},"modified":"2023-11-14T20:26:27","modified_gmt":"2023-11-15T02:26:27","slug":"new-zealand-euthanasia-misunderstood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/new-zealand-euthanasia-misunderstood\/","title":{"rendered":"Poll suggests 80% of New Zealand voters didn’t know what the euthanasia law would do"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

(Right to Life UK<\/a>) Polling suggests that\u00a080%<\/a>\u00a0of those who voted in October\u2019s assisted suicide referendum in New Zealand misunderstood what the law would actually do.<\/p>\n

In October, the \u2018End of Life Choice Act\u2019\u00a0became law<\/a>\u00a0through a binding referendum where 65.2% of voters supported the Act. However, according to group Euthanasia-Free NZ, \u201cPolling during the advance voting period showed that 80% of New Zealand adults were misunderstanding what the End of Life Choice Act would legalise.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOnly 20% of respondents knew that this Act would\u00a0not\u00a0<\/strong>make it legal to turn off machines that are keeping people alive.\u201d [emphasis original]<\/p>\n

Executive Officer of Euthanasia-Free NZ, Ren\u00e9e Joubert, said: \u201cIt seems that most New Zealanders voted for an end-of-life choice that is in fact already legal.\u201d<\/p>\n

As in the UK, in New Zealand, it is lawful to turn off a machine that is keeping someone alive artificially when in consultation with a doctor and where it is deemed medically appropriate. Polling suggests however that this was not widely known and 80% believed that the \u2018End of Life Choice Act\u2019 was making an end of life decision legal that was in fact already legal.<\/p>\n

The majority of voters didn\u2019t know what they were voting for<\/strong><\/p>\n

Furthermore, only 35% of people knew that this Act would make euthanasia available to terminally ill people even if they were not suffering any physical pain.<\/p>\n

Only 29% of those surveyed were aware that terminally people who met all the eligibility criteria for an assisted suicide but also had depression or some other mental illness, would be permitted to end their life under this Act.<\/p>\n

Unlike assisted suicide and euthanasia laws in Australia, Canada and the U.S. New Zealand\u2019s new law does not require that there be an independent witness when a person signs their euthanasia request. However, only 13% of people surveyed were aware of this fact.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe New Zealand Parliament voted down 111 out of 114 amendments that could have made this law safer,\u201d says Ms. Joubert. \u201cMany amendments were rejected without even being debated. Two of the passed amendments were solely about the referendum\u201d.<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0New Zealand survey reveals shortage of doctors willing to commit abortions<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cAt least Parliament could have included the safeguards that have been standard requirements in US assisted dying laws for the past 22 years\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s disappointing that the New Zealand public were generally uninformed about the details of the End of Life Choice Act\u201d.<\/p>\n

Expanding euthanasia law<\/strong><\/p>\n

In what appears to be a pattern, across numerous jurisdictions which have introduced assisted suicide and\/or euthanasia laws, overtime the legislation has gradually become more permissive as whatever safeguards were inserted into the law are eroded by doctors and activists.<\/p>\n

Belgium legalised euthanasia in 2002, and since then the practise has even been\u00a0extended to children<\/a>. The current law allows euthanasia if the patient is in a state of constant physical or psychological pain.<\/p>\n

There is now a renewed push for euthanasia to be available for those who are healthy but have decided they have a \u201cfulfilled life\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Netherlands too legalised euthanasia in 2002. Since then law has expanded to allow\u00a0euthanasia for Dutch babies<\/a>\u00a0up to 12 months. Children between 12 and 16 can be euthanised with the approval of their parents.<\/p>\n

Right To Life UK spokesperson, Catherine Robinson, said:\u00a0\u201cThe results of this polling are deeply disturbing. They indicate that the majority of people who voted in favour of the \u2018End of Life Choice Act\u2019 has little idea of the scope of this euthanasia law. Unfortunately, it seems likely that many people will only discover just how terrible and far-reaching this law is when they run up against it within their own families\u201d.<\/p>\n

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published at Right to Life UK<\/a> and is reprinted here with permission.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cLike\u201d Live Action News on Facebook<\/a> for more pro-life news and commentary!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Right to Life UK) Polling suggests that\u00a080%\u00a0of those who voted in October\u2019s assisted suicide referendum in New Zealand misunderstood what the law would actually do. In October, the \u2018End of Life Choice Act\u2019\u00a0became law\u00a0through a binding referendum where 65.2% of voters supported the Act. However, according to group Euthanasia-Free NZ, \u201cPolling during the advance voting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":669,"featured_media":233937,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[7077,5,3473,11],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nPoll suggests 80% of New Zealand voters didn't know what the euthanasia law would do<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Polling suggests that\u00a080%\u00a0of those who voted in October\u2019s assisted suicide referendum in New Zealand misunderstood what the law would actually do.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/righttolife.org.uk\/news\/poll-suggests-80-of-voters-in-nz-euthanasia-referendum-did-not-understand-what-they-were-voting-for\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta 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