Share this Story: Opinion: Assisted dying legislation must reconcile the rights of those who object to the practiceOpinion: Assisted dying legislation must reconcile the rights of those who object to the practice Brian Bird and Christina Lamb: The Supreme Court called on governments and regulators to reconcile access to assisted death with conscientious refusals to participate in it. Parliament is poised to pass Bill C-7, which would expand eligibility for assisted death to adults whose death is not near. Article content In Carter v. Canada, the 2015 ruling of the Supreme Court that opened the door to assisted death, the court did not determine that medically assisted death is a freestanding charter right. It invalidated, on charter grounds, the absolute Criminal Code prohibition on assisted suicide, to the extent that it criminalized medically assisted death in certain medical circumstances. While governments and regulators have worked to introduce, normalize and expand assisted death in Canada over the last five years, some have woefully neglected the call to reconcile the legalization of assisted death with the moral or ethical freedom to object to it.

Source: National Post February 11, 2021 14:10 UTC