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Seattle, WA (LifeNews.com)
-- On the heels of defeating a bill that would
have legalized assisted suicide in Canada, an
anti-euthanasia group is organizing a national
conference to coordinate strategy to respond to
additional attempts to promote the practice. The
Euthanasia Prevention Coalition will host the event next
month in Seattle.
The bill to legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide in
Canada was overwhelmingly defeated by a vote of 228 to
59 last month.
Alex Schadenberg of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
tells LifeNews.com that was an "unprecedented victory.”
"The massive victory was accomplished by the Euthanasia
Prevention Coalition quarter-backing a focused campaign
that involved groups and individuals from many different
organizations," he said. "In other words the incredible
victory was achieved by maintaining a strict focus and
working in coalition with many different groups who
shared one goal, opposing the legalization of assisted
suicide.”
Now that the battle to soundly defeat Bill C-384 has
come to an end, Schadenberg is ready to move ahead to
the next fight.
"Similar strategies need to be employed in every
jurisdiction in the United States and around the world,"
to ward off euthanasia and assisted suicide, he said.
"It is maybe necessary to express our opposition to
legalizing assisted suicide in different ways, but what
remains the same is the need for a focused leadership
that is willing to work with groups from every political
and social constituency," he said.
The June 5th Push Back Seminar in Seattle will help
pro-life advocates, Catholics, disability rights
advocates, medical groups and others who oppose assisted
suicide to develop new coalitions that can work with a
focused strategy and purpose.
Experts will provide information and give attendees the
opportunity to work through the ideas that enabled the
Euthanasia Prevention Coalition and its coalition
partners to convince politicians from across the
political and social spectrum to oppose euthanasia and
assisted suicide.
"We also need to recognize that the euthanasia lobby
does not provide equal opportunity. We cannot allow them
to control the language and the direction of the issue,"
the activist told LifeNews.com. "A prime example is how
the film about the I-1000 Initiative in Washington State
went from being a documentary of a campaign to a
propaganda film that demonized our leaders. We must turn
the tide now.”
Schadenberg hopes having the event in the state that
became the second to legalize assisted suicide will
yield learning opportunities.
“Seattle is also located near Montana, a state that is
also in need of forming a strong and effective
coalition. We also predict that California will once
again face a new challenge by the euthanasia lobby and
Oregon is constantly under social attack," he said of
two other states that allow assisted suicide and a third
that has repeatedly considered it. (by Steven Ertelt)
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