The Aussies have said no to euthanasia.

Recently, the Australian Senate narrowly defeated a measure that would have allowed euthanasia. One liberal senator who changed his mind and voted against the bill said he couldn’t support it “without ensuring appropriate safeguards were in place.”

He’s right. Up to a point. Because as we have seen in Belgium and the Netherlands, appropriate safeguards can never be put in place. As one Catholic health activist told WORLD magazine, “Once you open up the door that it’s OK to kill, the only question left is, whom do we kill?”

The answer is clear: not just the terminally ill, but eventually the mentally ill (as in the Netherlands), those with disabilities, and even children too young to legally consent to their own demise (as in Belgium). Here in the states, overall suicide rates climb where euthanasia is permitted, as in Washington and Oregon.

Thanks to the Aussies for reminding us that we can—and must—stop euthanasia.

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