Assisted suicide is never really about ‘choice’: here’s why

Just a few years ago, we understood that suicidal ideation itself was an indication that something was seriously wrong – but our euthanasia regime has changed all of that.

Just last week, I wrote a column on the normalization of euthanasia and the sinister insistence by those who advocate for it that being killed by lethal injection is, in fact, both a good and a life-saving thing. We are seeing the complete perversion of language in order to justify medicalized killing, which is why you don’t read terms like “killing” or “suicide” in the context of the euthanasia debate in the press. Activists realized very quickly that these terms were unhelpful in the push for normalization.

Earlier this month, Canadian MP Kevin Lamoureux, a Liberal, took it a step further, stating: “MAiD [assisted suicide] legislation, even on occasion, I would ultimately argue, saves lives.”

🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯 pic.twitter.com/bFU57gKxCJ

— Michelle Ferreri (@mferreriptbokaw) February 12, 2024

What a truly insane thing to say – and the sad fact is, he likely believes it. He also likely doesn’t realize how dangerous his statement is. What message is being sent to those the government has deemed eligible for state-facilitated suicide? Euthanasia is, legally speaking, a choice. But just as with abortion, the “choice” is often a farcical one.

When women were legally granted the “choice” of abortion, it swiftly became an expectation. Sick, sad, and depressed people may be told they merely have the “choice” to be euthanized – but as we have seen, this choice often seems like a social obligation.

This point was made in a recent essay about euthanasia in Newsweek by Katherine Brodsky, who supports euthanasia in principle. She has, however, come to have doubts that a euthanasia regime in which choice is freely exercised is possible. She writes:

I am now skeptical about the true autonomy of individuals opting for assisted death, especially in a country with socialized health care. The risk of medical practitioners recommending MAiD as a cost-cutting measure to alleviate strain on the health care system is unsettling, as suggested by a 2020 analysis estimating potential annual savings of save $66 million annually in health care costs. Individuals considering MAiD are already vulnerable due to physical or mental suffering, making them susceptible to external pressures. Reflecting on my own past struggles, I recognize the unpredictability of emotions and circumstances. What seems unbearable one day may change with time and support – yet the choice to end life is a permanent one.

Fortunately, the Canadian government has delayed – for the second time – expanding euthanasia to those suffering from mental illness. But they insist that this is a delay, not a cancellation, meaning that the position of the Trudeau government is that someone suffering acute despair caused by a mental illness is clear-headed enough to choose suicide-by-doctor. This is obviously untrue, and I genuinely wonder why the government seems so hellbent on doing this. Just a few years ago, we understood that suicidal ideation itself was an indication that something was seriously wrong – but our euthanasia regime has changed all of that.

Brodsky notes that the “choice” being offered to a specific subset of Canadians who have been pre-approved for this “choice” – a choice not offered to all Canadians, but only those the government has decided have lives not worth living – is often a false one. Citing the example of Lauren Hoeve, the Dutch girl who was euthanized earlier this year, she notes:

And yet, I was struck by something in the statement put out by Lauren Hoeve’s parents. ‘Millions of people are affected by ME/CFS, with no established treatment pathways and no cure,’ they wrote on X on Feb. 2. ‘Why is their suffering acknowledged enough for euthanasia but not enough to fund clinical research?’ And herein lies the rub. Why is euthanasia offered as a viable solution to a potentially non-permanent problem, when other options are possible?

Mental health services in Canada (and elsewhere) are scarce. Psychologists are expensive and out of reach for many. Psychiatric services are free of charge, but the wait lists are even longer than those for psychologists and few people can get access. The wait to get help is usually over a year. Family physicians just end up prescribing medications based on a checklist and see what sticks.

Precisely true. We know that many people in Canada have chosen euthanasia because it was the only “choice” being offered to them at all. Cancer patients who cannot get the treatment they actually want have opted for suicide-by-doctor instead. One woman noted that her requests for additional help to deal with her chronic condition were denied, and thus euthanasia was, she felt, the only option left available. “Ultimately it was not a genetic disease that took me out, it was a system,” she wrote. “There is desperate need for change. That is the sickness that causes so much suffering. Vulnerable people need help to survive. I could have had more time if I had more help.”

So, what does an ill and suffering Canadian hear when an MP stands up in the House of Commons and says that euthanasia “saves lives”? They know it doesn’t save their life. As Amanda Achtman noted: “Obviously, it’s not the lives of those being killed that are being saved. Such a utilitarian calculation amounts to a war against the weak and this is dehumanizing and wrong.”

Jonathon Van Maren is a public speaker, writer, and pro-life activist. His commentary has been translated into more than eight languages and published widely online as well as print newspapers such as the Jewish Independent, the National Post, the Hamilton Spectator and others. He has received an award for combating anti-Semitism in print from the Jewish organization B’nai Brith. His commentary has been featured on CTV Primetime, Global News, EWTN, and the CBC as well as dozens of radio stations and news outlets in Canada and the United States.

He speaks on a wide variety of cultural topics across North America at universities, high schools, churches, and other functions. Some of these topics include abortion, pornography, the Sexual Revolution, and euthanasia. Jonathon holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in history from Simon Fraser University, and is the communications director for the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform.

Jonathon’s first book, The Culture War, was released in 2016.

Related Topics:#AssistedSuicide #Euthanasia #JohathonVanMaren #LifeSiteNews #MAID

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MAiD

Study promotes liver transplants from Canadian euthanasia victims

Published on October 28, 2025

Todayville

From LifeSiteNews

By Clare Marie Merkowsky

A new study encourages transplants from euthanasia donors, saying that harvesting the organs of people killed by euthanasia has a ‘real impact’ on organ supply.

A concerning new study shows that liver transplants from euthanasia donors yield similar results as those from other donations, a finding that could increase pressure to euthanize vulnerable Canadians.

On October 26, the Journal of Hepatology published research comparing liver transplants in Canada from donations after circulatory death – a problematic method of organ donation – and from donations of those who were euthanized, in the latest study into increasing organ transplants from euthanasia or so-called “medical assistance in dying” (“MAID”) victims.

“Our study provides the first large-scale Canadian experience, paralleling previous studies from Belgium and the Netherlands, showing that outcomes are positive, while also demonstrating the real impact that MAiD donation can have on the availability of organs,” co-lead investigator A.M. James Shapiro declared.

“While not all individuals pursuing MAiD are suitable for donation for various reasons, we hope that our study will allow a better understanding of the potential role of organ donation following MAiD,” he continued.

Shapiro highlighted, in his view, “how impactful it can be for saving lives of many people in their final act of generosity.”

Canada is one of few countries, alongside Australia, Belgium, Spain, and the Netherlands, that harvests organs from euthanasia victims. Under the Liberal government, Canada has become the world leader in organ donations from people who obtained state-sanctioned euthanasia.

Recently, the interest in the practice has boomed, after the heart of a euthanized Canadian man was successfully harvested and donated to an American man with heart failure.

While many Canadians are left without necessary healthcare and even goaded to end their lives through euthanasia, the Liberal-run health system appears to prioritize the lucrative business of harvesting organs from Canadians killed off by their euthanasia regime.

According to some estimates, a heart is “worth around $1 million in the U.S. Livers come in second, about $557,000, and kidneys cost about $262,000 each. Not to speak about human skin ($10/inch), stomach ($500), and eyeballs ($1,500 each).”

Similarly, conservative Irish think tank academic Dr. Angelo Bottone has warned against a push to harvest organs from euthanasia victims before they are killed.

“While donation after euthanasia is already happening in those countries, doctors are now discussing harvesting organs before  euthanasia patients are declared dead, in order to preserve organ viability,” Bottone wrote.

“They propose that organs be removed under general anaesthesia before the patient is declared dead, thereby maintaining continuous blood circulation and oxygenation to the organs until the moment of retrieval,” the scholar continued. “This method could significantly improve the quality and quantity of organs available for transplantation.”

The most recent reports show that euthanasia is the sixth highest cause of death in Canada. However, it was not listed as such in Statistics Canada’s top 10 leading causes of death from 2019 to 2022.

Asked why euthanasia was left off the list, the agency said that it records the illnesses that led Canadians to choose to end their lives via euthanasia, not the actual cause of death, as the primary cause of death.

According to Health Canada, in 2022, 13,241 Canadians died by lethal euthanasia injections. This accounts for 4.1 percent of all deaths in the country for that year, a 31.2 percent increase from 2021.

MAiD

Disabled Canadians increasingly under pressure to opt for euthanasia during routine doctor visits

Published on October 26, 2025

Todayville

From LifeSiteNews

By Clare Marie Merkowsky

Inclusion Canada reported to Parliament that disabled Canadians feeling pressure to choose assisted suicide is a ‘weekly’ occurrence due to MAiD expansion to the non-terminally ill.

Inclusion Canada CEO Krista Carr revealed that many disabled Canadians are being pressured to end their lives with euthanasia during routine medical appointments.

During an October 8 session of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Carr, an advocate against Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD), explained that Canada’s expansion of MAiD to the non-terminally ill has led to people with disabilities being pressured to end their lives during unrelated medical visits.

“Since the bill was brought in around Track 2 MAID … that has certainly changed people’s interactions with the healthcare system,” she explained, referring to the 2021 expansion that allowed those who are chronically ill but not terminally ill to be euthanized.

“People with disabilities are now very much afraid in many circumstances to show up in the health care system with regular health concerns, because often MAID is suggested as a solution to what is considered to be intolerable suffering,” she revealed.

WOW

“People with disabilities are now very much afraid in many circumstances to show up in the healthcare system with regular concerns. Often MAID is suggested as a solution.

“Since the bill was brought in around Track 2 MAID…that has certainly changed people’s interactions… pic.twitter.com/kjsVk8UbAK

— Garnett Genuis (@GarnettGenuis) October 16, 2025

Conservative Member of Parliament Garnett Genuis questioned how often people with disabilities are encouraged to have themselves euthanatized. Carr responded that this is a “weekly” occurrence for Canadians living with disabilities.

Carr warned that Canadians living with disabilities are disproportionately targeted by the MAiD expansion because their medical conditions leave them vulnerable to the euthanasia mindset within hospitals. Additionally, according to Carr, “poverty” is considered “intolerable suffering,” making a person eligible to receive MAiD.

Carr’s statement supports internal documents from Ontario doctors in 2024 that revealed Canadians are choosing euthanasia because of poverty and loneliness, not as a result of a terminal illness.

In one case, an Ontario doctor revealed that a middle-aged worker, whose ankle and back injuries had left him unable to work, felt that the government’s insufficient support was “leaving (him) with no choice but to pursue MAiD.”

Overall, 116 of Ontario’s 4,528 euthanasia deaths in 2023 involved non-terminal patients, with many of those killed from impoverished communities.

Data from Ontario’s chief coroner for 2023 revealed that over three-quarters of those euthanized when death wasn’t imminent required disability support before their death.

Similarly, nearly 29% of those killed when they were not terminally ill lived in the poorest parts of Ontario, and only 20% of the province’s general population lives in those areas.

At the same time, the Liberal government has worked to expand MAiD 13-fold since it was legalized, making it the fastest growing euthanasia program in the world.

Currently, wait times to receive care in Canada have increased to an average of 27.7 weeks, leading some Canadians to despair and opt for euthanasia instead of waiting for assistance. At the same time, sick and elderly Canadians who have refused to end their lives via MAiD have reported being called “selfish” by their providers.

The most recent reports show that MAiD is the sixth highest cause of death in Canada. However, it was not listed as such in Statistics Canada’s top 10 leading causes of death from 2019 to 2022.

Asked why MAiD was left off the list, the agency said that it records the illnesses that led Canadians to choose to end their lives via euthanasia, not the actual cause of death, as the primary cause of death.

According to Health Canada, 13,241 Canadians died by MAiD lethal injections in 2022, accounting for 4.1 percent of all deaths in the country that year, a 31.2 percent increase from 2021.