The recent efforts of Australia and other nations to ban the promotion of suicide through the Internet has euthanasia advocates complaining that the loss of the Internet may prove lethal to the “right-to-die” movement itself.
In late 2005, Australia passed the Suicide Related Material Offences Act, which effectively outlawed suicide counseling by fax, telephone, and Internet, the tools of choice employed by suicide advocates to educate and encourage people to commit suicide.
This year Germany also has begun to follow suit by proposing similar legislation that would also outlaw Internet suicide counseling.
However, some euthanasia proponents are convinced that such laws may threaten their existence. Australian Doctor Philip Nitschke — who recently unveiled the creation of his “peaceful pill” for lethal suicide — had to divide Exit in Australia into two organizations, and base his website in New Zealand on account of Australia’s tough laws against promoting suicide.
At the 16th biennial World Federation of Right to Die Societies, euthanasia proponents like Dr. Philip Nitschke recognized that these laws could cut off the “life”-line of the “right to die” movement, since most euthanasia societies rely on Internet and email “counseling services” to explain and promote suicide.
Pro-life organizations and charities are well aware that the age of the Internet has made the lonely, depressed, and the young especially vulnerable to the online peddling of suicide by “right to die” activists. Papyrus, a British charity that works to help the depressed and young people not turn to suicide, reports that tens of millions of webpages on the Internet are dedicated to discussing suicide, and give technical information and advice on the more painless methods of suicide, or encourage suicide through chatroom suicide-networks. It has launched a drive in the United Kingdom to encourage the government to ban the use of the Internet to promote suicide.
(This article courtesy of LifeSiteNews.com.)
