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Humanize From Discovery Institute's Center on Human Exceptionalism
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Spanish Government Plans to Okay Euthanasia for Mental Illness

Originally published at National Review

Once a society generally accepts killing as an acceptable answer to human suffering, the categories of “suffering” permitting termination continually expand. Latest example: Spain, where people with serious mental illnesses may soon be permitted to be put down. From the Exaudi story:

The Ministry of Health has met with the autonomous communities to agree on the reform of the Manual of Good Practices on Euthanasia to include mental illness as a reason for requesting it.

The draft of the Organic Law on the Regulation of Euthanasia (LORE) indicates that euthanasia “does not exclude mental illness, allowing people with an unbearable suffering due to the presence of a mental illness to request the Aid to Dying Benefit (PAM) on equal terms with those whose suffering comes from a somatic illness.”

People with mental illnesses are already euthanized in Netherlands and Belgium — sometimes conjoined with organ harvesting. It was supposed to be legal now in Canada too, but permission has been delayed until 2027 — not because it is wrong — but to “make sure the system is trained.”

We aren’t talking slippery slopes anymore, but facts on the ground. The culture of death is like a cancer: Once allowed to generate, it never stops growing.

Wesley J. Smith

Chair and Senior Fellow, Center on Human Exceptionalism
Wesley J. Smith is Chair and Senior Fellow at the Discovery Institute’s Center on Human Exceptionalism. Wesley is a contributor to National Review and is the author of 14 books, in recent years focusing on human dignity, liberty, and equality. Wesley has been recognized as one of America’s premier public intellectuals on bioethics by National Journal and has been honored by the Human Life Foundation as a “Great Defender of Life” for his work against suicide and euthanasia. Wesley’s most recent book is Culture of Death: The Age of “Do Harm” Medicine, a warning about the dangers to patients of the modern bioethics movement.