As you promote the sanctity of life this weekend, remember those with disabilities. God would have you to protect all life, the most irreplaceable and fundamental condition of the human experience. Bend over backward to make it possible for people with disabilities to not only live, but to thrive.
Some disabled people have a hard time living, but an easy time dying.
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada, and that is especially true in Canada. Let me tell you the story of Joannie Cowie who is in a wheelchair and has severe asthma that’s turned into chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. She also has pain from a fractured back. And so, on a day when she was feeling rather low, she called the government to see if she would be eligible for medical assistance in dying. She got an automated recording that said, “Hello, you’ve reached the provincial health services authority telephone line for medical assistance in dying.” It was an unmistakable message from the Canadian government: if you want to end your life, we’ll help you do it. Fifty-two-year-old Joannie, a resident of Windsor Ontario, said, “And if you call the number on the government website, they will provide doctors who will sign off for you. They [could] have me dead in 90 days. That’s what I was told.”
The chilling part of the story is that Joannie does, indeed, meet the medical criteria for aid in dying. She’s a disabled person who struggles with pain. And so, how does this qualify her to receive lethal drugs to kill herself? Well, back in 2016 when Canada passed its medical aid in dying legislation, the law required that death be in the person’s reasonably foreseeable future. Now, if that weren’t ambiguous enough, in 2021 the rules changed. They wanted to give equal opportunity to people who were not terminally ill but only disabled. So, in an attempt to establish equity, the Canadian law now provides lethal drugs to anyone who has a “serious and incurable illness, disease, or disability with enduring suffering.” So, under these new regulations, Joannie Cowie is eligible for medical assistance in dying. And here’s the sad fact: she really doesn’t want to die. But Joannie cannot afford to live. Disability support programs just don’t cover her cost of living. She can barely pull together enough money to buy groceries and pay for gas. So, in an attempt at nondiscrimination, Canada’s equal opportunity law is helping disabled people die rather than helping them to live.
It’s a well-known fact: Canada has the most permissive assistance in dying law in the world, even more lenient than laws in Europe. At least in Europe, they have a review system for difficult cases like Joannie’s. The Canadian healthcare system is missing those safeguards; Canada is not required to explore other options for Joannie so that she can better manage her life.
Deuteronomy says to “choose life.” Elsewhere in Isaiah 58, God tells us to bend over backward to make it possible for people like Joannie to live, providing the necessary help for the most basic life challenges. And so, disability advocates like myself are praying for the situation to change in Canada. We are also aware that our neighbor to the north is setting a global precedent that is dangerous for all disabled and elderly people. I encourage you to remember this when you promote the sanctity of life this weekend. Remember the poor, the lame, and the blind, as Luke 14 calls us to do. Pray against the further devaluing of people’s lives. Because life is the most irreplaceable and fundamental condition of the human experience and God would have us to protect all life, from the womb to the tomb and in between for people like Joannie. Thank you for remembering the disabled on Sanctity of Life Sunday. Go today to joniradio.org.
© Joni and Friends