Bulletin 19: Right-To-Life Straw Man Argument

29th July 2008

When the Victorian Physician Assisted Dying (PAD) Bill was being drafted, Dying With Dignity Victoria (DWDV) took the firm view that a suffer must ingest their medication to die peacefully as this makes it clear and unambiguous that it is the sufferer’s will. The same cannot be said of an injection by a doctor and we stand by that position.

You will have received another letter from Margaret Tighe of Right To Life opposing the Physician Assisted Dying (PAD) Bill. In it she reproduces a web page written by USA anti-PAD campaigner Rita L. Marker. They claim that the only reason the ten-year Oregon Death With Dignity Act has not been changed to permit injection (slippery slope) is that its supporters are waiting for another USA state to follow its non-injection legislative lead before it can “make progress” to injection: in other words “political expediency”.

Compassion and Choices of Oregon (DWDV’s sister society), says Marker and Tighe’s accusations are baseless, “There are no plans to amend our law to permit injection. No one has proposed it, suggested it, hinted at it or dreamt about it. End of issue.”

The USA Death With Dignity National Center (whose Oregon-Plus-One initiative Marker completely misrepresented) says that “Ms Marker’s claim is fear-mongering. We would actively fight any attempts to change the ban on injection.”

Like the other societies, DWDV has not proposed, suggested, hinted at or dreamt about it, despite opponents wishing or falsely asserting that we had.

Straw man indeed…who has just tumbled down the opponents’ own slippery slope.

We believe that Parliamentarians deserve a higher standard of information that that demonstrated in letters from Margaret Tighe and other opponents.