The Catholic Weekly 12 July 2020

catholicweekly.com.au 11 12, July, 2020 NEWS ment was offering less than 20 per cent of what Palliative Care Victoria had told them was needed. And it’s not like Victorian palliative care services didn’t need the help. Statistics released just last week by the Australian Insti- tute of Health and Welfare show that Victoria has been woefully below the national average for Medicare-subsi- dised palliative care services since the time euthanasia was legalised. In Australia, an average of 58 people in every 100,000 receive Medicare-subsidised palliative care visits, either in their home or in the hospital. Despite being one of Austra- lia’s most populated states, in Victoria, these Medicare-sub- sidised visits are available to only 41.6 people per 100,000. This isn’t because few- er people are using the same amount of services. Victoria is also below the national average in relation to the number of services pro- vided. Around the country, states average 316.4 Medicare -sub- sidised palliative care visits The love that’s just too much trouble W e have known for a long time that those who describe them- selves as pro-choice when it comes to abortion are in fact deeply anti-choice. While they wax lyrical about the “right to choose,” they do nothing to provide support for those women who want to keep their baby, either during or after pregnancy. If they were authentically and consistently pro-choice, then the same people – men and women – who hold plac- ards at pro-abortion rallies would also be volunteer- ing for pregnancy counsel- ling services or donating to providers of the same, but it doesn’t routinely happen, if at all. Similarly, the MPs who last year stood up in NSW Parlia- ment and claimed that their pro-abortion vote was about a woman’s right to choose should be just as vocal and heartfelt in their pleas for the provision of services for fam- ilies. But there has been no evidence of that. The irony of the self-pro- claimed pro-choicers is that they are thoroughly an- ti-choice. This is true at the start of life and it is also true at the end of life. Those who push for eu- thanasia and assisted suicide to be made legal describe their campaign as being one about end-of-life “choices,” but they also are complete- ly disinterested in advocat- ing for, or providing choice to, those who are nearing the end of life. Instead, and just like the abortion advocates, they frame their campaign in terms of choice to make it more palatable to the public and the politicians. In particular, those who ar- gue for assisted suicide and euthanasia will say that its le- galisation is not about dimin- ishing the quality of or access to palliative care. Instead, they argue, it is an option for people for whom palliative care does not work, and who would be left to die in agony. Nothing could be fur- ther from the truth. Austra- lia has some of the highest quality palliative care in the world, and those who offer it say that for the two per cent of patients for whom it does not work, palliative sedation is offered so that they are not in any pain or distress as they reach the end of their lives. All they really need is the resources to educate more doctors and patients about it, and to ensure it is affordable for everyone. But euthanasia and as- sisted suicide advocates are not interested in that type of “choice.” Remember that when Vic- toria conducted its inquiry into end-of-life choices, 30 of the 49 recommendations that the committee made related to the improvement of pallia- tive care, and only one had to do with the legalisation of eu- thanasia and assisted suicide. Palliative Care Victoria re- quested an additional $65 million in annual funding in order to meet the require- ments, but they were given nothing. The government instead put all its attention on push- ing euthanasia laws through parliament, and it wasn’t till after they were accepted that palliative care funding was considered. Even then, the amount giv- en was minimal. At a com- mitment of $62 million over a five-year period, the govern- Nurses provide care to a patient in palliative care. PHOTO: CNS PHOTO/PHILIPPEWOJAZER, REUTER Abortion and pro-euthanasia activists talk the talk – and that’s about all T o the point with Monica Doumit ... just like the abortion advo- cates, [Those who push for euthanasia and assisted suicide] frame their campaign in terms of choice to make it more palatable to the public and the politi- cians.” Ph: 4620 8822 or 9708 6972 www.KenneallysFunerals.com.au ‘ Servicing greater Sydney and the Macarthur area’ Why choose Kenneally’s  Servicing the Catholic Community  Family owned and operated  After funeral bereavement support available  Tailored options for your personal finances  Affordable pre-paid and pre-arranged funerals Prompt and Personalised Care per 100,000 people; in Victo- ria, this number is 234.6. While it might be cynical to suggest that the lethal cocktail provided for assisted suicide is a lot cheaper than provid- ing quality palliative care, it is also true. If Victoria was seri- ous about providing end-of- life choices, then the number of Medicare-subsidised palli- ative care services it provides to its citizens should be the highest in Australia. Unfortunately, there is about as much chance of that as there is a pro-abortionist offering pregnancy support.