PARDON ME, I know i’m dumb, dumb, dumb. But ?’m
still morally confused — maybe ‘‘challenged”' is a better
word — by some of the underpinnings of our value system
here in Canada, and hence the legal system.

Let me make sure I’ve got this
straight. It is illegal, immoral, in-
deed even criminal, for a doctor
to help somebody like Sue
Rodriguez to avoid a horrible
death by slow strangulation due to
an irreversible, incurable illness
called amyotrophic lateral sclero-
sis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease.

‘ Isn't what Sue Rodriguez faces,
in fact, a form of torture? Slow,
agonizing death. The obvious
merciful thing to do is to put such
a person out of her misery when
she finally cries out to you to do
so.

We wouldn’t allow our pets to
die such a death, but in Canada,
according to law, reaffirmed by

the Supreme Court, you can go to
prison for helping Sue Rodriguez:
to avoid indescribable agony by
giving her a painless lethal injec-
tion.

Have you ever choked even for
-acouple of minutes? This is un-
speakable cruelty.

The law against assisted suicide
‘. is, of course, a legalism that
derives from % value system
shaped in large measure by an-
cient Catholic thinking, which is
why the Canadian Conference of
Catholic Bishops was up in arms.

. «During the Rodriguez debate, I
-. read somewhere a line from one
“priest who said: ‘‘Those last few
- days or months of pain may en-
noble some people.’’.

~ The idea of being “ennobled”

“by suffering is sick. It is some-
: thing you'd expect to hear from’
"the Marquis de Sade, not froma ©
-]man of the cloth,
“+ Although, of course, we all
-know that from its beginning
“Christianity has had a love-hate
- affair with sadomasochism, the

"Catholic Church being the faction _ ,
- most devoted to denial of pleasure’ -

and maxiraization of pain, as
-. witnessed by those sickos in the
.. Philippines.who volunteer to be *:

crucified every Easter.

When the technology is avail-

“able to offer painless death to a
suffering person with an incurable’
‘condition, and the law does not

Punter

STRICTLY PERSONAL

allow it, then the law is in league
with the Dark Side of the Force,
that’s all there is to it. ;

The argument that setting a
precedent in Sue Rodriguez’s case
would pave the way for mass
assisted suicide by teenagers with
angst is drivel.

OK, so as I’ve admitted, I’m
dumb, dumb, dumb — unable to
grasp the essence of the value
system at work here, except to see
it as being unspeakably cruel and
a denial of the individual’s right
te make choices.

So it will come as no surprise
that Jam equally incapable of _
understanding why, when denial
of choice in the matter of one’s

. own life or death is absolutely
: denied, the right to choose

whether to kill an unborn human
being is considered absolutely
sacrosanct in this most logically
consistent of countries. .

I note that the number of abor-

' tions performed on Canadian

women rose to the highest level
ever in:1991. A total of 95,059 ~

- abortions were performed, a

‘quarter of them in private clinics.
The abortion rate has now risen
to 23.6 for every 100 live births.

. That means nearly a fifth of the

kids conceived in this country are
terminated, eliminated, liquidated,
discontinued, deactivated,
obliterated, arrested, expelled and
cancelled.

See, in all fairness, how hard
I'm trying to find some word
other than “murdered.”

After all the law, which says
you cannot under any cir-
cumstances indulge in mercy kill-
ing, says you can ‘‘abort’* with
complete impunity a child you
conceived,

Slightly more than a quarter of
all the women who had abortions
in 1991 were having them for the
second time.

In other words, they were still
too undisciplined, indifferent or
merely twit-headed (as were their
partners) to bother learning about
birth control.

‘And, indeed, why bother, since
you can go and have ‘‘it’’ remov-
ed retroactively?

“It? being the fetus, the thing
without name or social insurance
number that we never refer to as a
person or even as a living entity.

If we were truly to take a scien-
tific view of the life process, there
is no doubt about when ‘‘life’’
begins. It begins at conception.

There is no biological discon-
tinuity from that instant to the
end of one’s days, whether you
are suctioned out of your
mother’s body two months after
conception or run over by a truck
90 years later.

“Choice” for pregnant women,
but no choice for dying women.
That’s what I understand the law
to be saying.

A woman can consent to an
abortion to solve the problem of
an unwanted pregnancy, but
should she find herself in a
wheelchair, with no hope of any-
thing but an awful death, she
cannot ask for help in escaping

’ such a fate without getting some-

one into trouble with the law.
She can allow a life within her

: body to be snuffed out, but she

can’t ask anyone to help her snuff
herself.
I do have this right, don’t 1?.

‘It’s terrible, being this dumb.

Maybe a lawyer or a priest could

sit down with me and explain how ;

it all makes perfect sense.

Gov't listened on Clayoquot

i Dear Editor: -;
The Western Canada Wilderness

Committee has just circulated a.

postcard asking North Shore resi-

dents to ‘‘save’’ Clayoquot

Sound. a

, if “saving” Clayoquot Sound

_ Means preserving it, completely,

then it also means. shutting down’

_ the towns of Ucluelet and proba-

bly Tofino — not to mention the

©. impact it would ‘have on neighbor-
. ing Port Alberni.

Without; the infrastructure | of

the forest industry, it means losing

toads and: access into wilderness

- areas. It means the loss of 3,500

direct jobs and 9,000 indirect

LIONS GATE |
HOSPITAL

Summer Safety Guide

jobs.

It. means the loss of millions
upon millions of dollars in reve-
nue to the government, which
pays. for schools, hospitals and
highways.

The provincial government has
a responsibility to provide for the
environment and economic health
of B.C., and every land-use deci-
sion must reflect a balance be-
tween these values.

The Clayoquot decision was
reached after the public (yes, or-
dinary people) sat down around a
table for three years to try. to
hammer out some kind of agree-
ment on the future of Clayoquot

The LGH Emergency SI Staff
wish you a happy, healthy
summer. Here are some
things to keep in mind so
that we don’t see each other’
over the holidays.

% Be aware of poisonous
planis in your house and |
garden. Did you know that
Rhubarb leaves are |

Sound.

All sides were considered, and
the resu.. was a compromise based
on the best information available.

lf we truly want a consensus-
based approach to work in B.C.,
we must respect the recommenda-
tions of groups like the Clayoquot
Sound Sustainable. Development
Steering Committee.

The government did so.

J.J. Munro, chairman
Forest Alliance of B.C.

poisonous, although the
stems are not? Keep the -
poison centre phone number
close by 682-5050.

# . When braising burgeys on
the barbie, ensure the meat is
well done, not pink. Don’t use
the same plate to transport
raw and cooked meat. Store
Propane ti tanks s carefully.

_but respect red tide and

blading or mountain biking,

Brenda & Masa Fuji Call 984-7900

(REPAIR YOUR BBO

-WITH QUALITY PARTS:
COOKING GRIDS, BURNERS

IGNITION SYSTEMS, BRIQUETS

CUSTOM. |
DRAPERIES
AND
VALANCES

Labour $8.50 per
panel untined,
$9.50 lined.

CUSTOM BEDSPREADS & COVERS. /
Low, low prices on blinds & tracks. aw
For FREE Estimates
Call 987-2966 ,
Serving the North Shore for 23 years

“19 WEEK UNSORN BABY

Ora Child? |

There are alternatives to abortion see
There have to be. ‘

For information on biomedical and ethical |
lissues like abortion and euthanasia cail the}
Resource Centre at 984-9094. - 7

% Fresh seafood tastes great, even if it’s just around the

neighborhood!
pollution warnings. Check . Soe
with fisheries officials before % Tetanus shots ares

fishing or collecting shellfish. | Something you may not: -
have thought about. Make |;

sure family members have
had them, especially if they
fall or cut themselves.
Boosters are good for 10’.
years.

*% If you're planning to rock
‘n rol! over the summer, wear
helmets, elbow and knee pads
when skateboarding, roller-