New Brunswick dioceses will not require COVID vaccination to attend Mass

Vancouver, Canada, Jan 22, 2020 / 11:00 am (CNA).- A Canadian hospice is at risk of losing its government funding over its refusal to euthanize patients who request an “assisted death.” 

Fraser Health Authority, a publicly-funded organization responsible for administering healthcare for 1.6 million people in the western Canadian province of British Columbia, is ordering the Irene Thomas Hospice, a 10-bed hospice facility, to offer euthanasia to its patients. 

The hospice is operated by the non-profit organization the Delta Hospice Society, which is opposed to Canada’s “Medical Assistance in Dying” (“MAiD”) laws. 

In September 2016, about three months after euthanasia became legal in Canada, Fraser Health introduced a new policy which required all hospices receiving more than 50% of provincial funding for their beds to offer euthanasia to their residents. The hospice receives $1.4 million of its $3 million operating budget from the Fraser Health Authority, and Fraser Health funds all 10 of the beds at Irene Thomas Hospice. 

Faith-based healthcare organizations, as well as medical professionals opposed to MAiD, are not required to euthanize patients in Canada. Doctors, however, must refer patients seeking an “assisted death” to a healthcare provider who is willing to euthanize them. The Delta Hospice Society is not affiliated with a religion, but is opposed to euthanasia as a matter of principle. 

Euthanasia is readily available at Delta Hospital, which is a one-minute drive or four-minute walk away from the Irene Thomas Hospice. 

Dr. Leonie Herx, a palliative physician and the president of the Canadian Society of Palliative Care Physicians, told CNA that less than 30% of Canadians have access to palliative care. 

Unlike other healthcare services, including MAiD, which are fully funded and accessible to all by the Canada Health Act, disability care, palliative care, and homecare services are not guaranteed or accessible everywhere. 

“So while MAiD needs to be funded provincially and accessible to all Canadians, the same does not apply to palliative care,” said Herx. 

“The rights of individuals to autonomy and their ‘right to die’ therefore seems to trump the right to assistance in living,” she added.

Herx said that presently, palliative care organizations throughout Canada are pushing for more funding for palliative care, to better assist patients in need. 

“MAiD was legalized before we had broad uptake of and access to palliative care,” she said. 

“The government missed an opportunity when crafting the Canadian MAiD legislation and could have made these important safeguards of ‘care’ (which we know mitigates desire for hastened death in many cases) also part of the Canada Health Act.” 

In Canada, unlike assisted suicide laws in the United States, those who opt for an “assisted death” are not required to self-administer the lethal medication. The vast majority of Canadians who have an “assisted death” do so by euthanasia and do not self-administer. 

Herx said that misconceptions about the purpose of palliative care can push people away from pursuing hospice care. The addition of MAiD into hospice settings makes the confusion worse. 

“Some patients are already afraid that palliative care will shorten their life and these worries can be intensified when MAiD is provided in that same palliative care centre,” she said. Considering that less than 2% of deaths in Canada each year are from MAiD, the “vast majority” of the remaining, “natural” deaths could serve to benefit from palliative care. 

The number of Canadians who chose MAiD during the first 10 months of 2018–2,613 people–is four times the total number of homicides in Canada in 2018. That year, 651 people were the victims of homicide.

Herx told CNA that “the healthcare authority in British Columbia is not recognizing the unique approach to care that is at the core of hospice palliative care.”

Speeding up death, she said, is never the aim of palliative care. Herx said there was “no reason” to mandate that hospices perform euthanasia, as it is already widely available at hospitals and in patient homes. 

Herx pointed to “strong lobbies” which are backing this new effort to expand MAiD into additional institutions which receive provincial funding, including faith-based hospitals or hospices. She warned that the pressure on all such institutions to offer assisted dying would continue.

“This current case in Delta Hospice may set the precedent for other non-religious hospices,” said Herx. 

“But then, faith-based institutions may be next.”

[…]

Lima, Peru, Mar 16, 2018 / 10:46 am (ACI Prensa).- A save haven bill that would allow mothers to leave their children at certain drop off locations to be taken into state custody without punishment is moving forward in the Peruvian legislature.

The “Saving Cradles and Confidential Birth” bill passed out of the Committee on Women March 14 with a favorable vote of 4-2, clearing the way for its final passage by the full assembly of the unicameral Peruvian congress.

The Saving Cradles Association, which is backing the legislation, told ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister agency of CNA, that this bill seeks to help “Peruvian women who for some very personal reason cannot or do not want to raise the children they are expecting, as well to help their own unborn children, and to protect babies abandoned on the street which puts their lives in danger.”

The bill provides for adequate and safe locations installed in private and public health care centers where women can leave their newborns. It establishes a legal procedure that allows for anonymity for the parents and places the state in charge of the adoption process.

Members of congress supporting the bill said that the legislation seeks to “give an alternative to women who cannot or do not want to raise their newborns, as well as to ensure the boy or girl’s right to life and to live in a family.”

The Saving Cradles Association congratulated “members of congress Betty Ananculi, Juan Carlos Gonzales, Tamar Arimborgo and Cecilia Chacón who are working in a concrete and effective manner for the women and children of Peru.”

The organization said it is “hopeful that this goal will soon be achieved with a favorable vote in the full assembly of the Congress of the Republic.”

[…]

Washington D.C., Feb 11, 2021 / 10:00 am (CNA).- Pro-life groups are warning against increased funding of abortions in Congress’ proposed COVID relief legislation.
 

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List (SBA List), stated on Wednesday that “House Democrats are shamefully pushing a massive expansion of abortion on demand, paid for with tax dollars, in the guise of COVID-19 relief – including payouts to abortion giant Planned Parenthood.”

The House Energy and Commerce Committee commenced a hearing to consider a massive COVID relief proposal on Thursday morning. The proposal includes funding for vaccine distribution, national testing, and community health services.

However, SBA List noted that the proposal contains billions of dollars in health care funding but without specific prohibitions on funding of abortions—meaning that the funding could go toward abortions, abortion coverage, or abortion providers.

The proposal contains $750 million for global health and billions of dollars for community health centers but without “Hyde Amendment” provisions, SBA List said. The Hyde Amendment prohibits federal funding of elective abortions in health care and has been part of congressional appropriations for decades; leading Democrats have said they intend to reverse the policy this year.

The proposal also includes $50 million for the Title X family planning program, and expanded subsidies towards health plans that cover abortions, SBA List said. In particular, the funding of Title X could go to Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers if the Biden administration—as expected—repeals an existing prohibition on Title X funding of groups that refer for abortions.

“Polls consistently show that the overwhelming majority of Americans, including millions of rank-and-file Democrats, are opposed to bankrolling abortion businesses whether in this country or overseas,” Dannenfelser said.

According to a Jan. 27 Knights of Columbus/Marist poll, more than three-quarters of Americans opposed taxpayer funding of abortions overseas, and 58% of respondents opposed taxpayer-funded abortions in the U.S.

In addition, an Economist/YouGov poll published on Feb. 4 found that Americans disapproved of President Biden’s decision to repeal the Mexico City Policy, by a margin of 42% to 36%. The Mexico City Policy forbids U.S. funding of foreign organizations that promote or perform abortions.

Efforts are also underway to block federal funding of Planned Parenthood in COVID relief. On Wednesday, SBA List thanked Rep. Roger Williams (R-Texas) for introducing an amendment to clarify that Planned Parenthood was not eligible for PPP loans.

Congress set up the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) in March to provide emergency loans to small businesses and eligible non-profits to keep employees on payroll during the COVID-19 pandemic. Under the rules of the program, Planned Parenthood affiliates were supposed to be ineligible for the loans, but affiliates applied for and received around $80 million in PPP loans anyway.

Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) on Tuesday also tried to add an amendment to a budget reconciliation bill blocking taxpayer funding of abortions, but Democrats on the House Education and Labor Committee blocked the amendment in a 27-21 party line vote.

The group Democrats for Life of America tweeted on Thursday that “If @TheDemocrats codify Roe and repeal the Hyde Amendment, they can kiss the House and Senate goodbye in 2022. Let’s not sacrifice our entire legislative agenda for something like this.”

Although Republican members of the House and Senate have signed statements pledging to uphold the Hyde Amendment, Democratic leaders have signaled that they are prepared to pass COVID relief bills on a simple majority vote, with or without Republican support.

The U.S. bishops’ conference (USCCB) has asked members of Congress to not include funding for abortions in the upcoming COVID relief bill.

[…]