Strong support for Death With Dignity Bill

"As everyone owns their own life, voluntary euthanasia must be everybody's fundamental right," said Libertarianz spokesman on Personal Sovereignty Scott Wilson today. He declared his party's 'strong support' for NZ First MP Peter Brown's Death with Dignity Bill.

"The Bill recognises that people who face unbearable, painful, and debilitating diseases or conditions have the right to choose to terminate their existence. It is not for the State or anyone else to deny these people the right to choose how or when they might end their lives; in fact to deny this right is surely one of the grossest infringements on the individual liberty and sovereignty we each have over our own body," said Wilson.

"It is not for any church, or the State, or any other person, even with the best of intentions - to forcibly prevent any individual's wish to end a life of suffering. Criminalising people who assist in ending this suffering is utterly unjust and creates a victimless crime. A husband, for example, who assists his wife to painlessly kill herself instead of having her endure potentially months or years of painful, undignified existence - a man following the clearly expressed rational wishes of his loved one - should not have to face criminal conviction on top of his own grief," he continued.

The Libertarianz party calls on all MPs to think with their consciences, and to recognise the safeguards that the Death With Dignity Bill places against people being coerced or misled. "Most importantly," concluded Wilson," MPs must stop criminalising people who want to end their own lives when and how they choose."

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