Page 44
WisconsinChristianNews.com
Volume 25, Issue 2
The Dystopian Future Is Here
By Katrina Trinko, The Daily Signal May 2024 Once, we told stories of rescuing women in distress.
the possibility two years ago, when a coun- selor mentioned it. For Fun, who has par- ents and a brother and a boyfriend, death still seemed like a better reality than stay- ing alive. “My father is sick, my mother is sick, my parents are fighting to stay alive, and I want to step out of life,” she told The Times. “That’s a bit strange. But even when I was seven, I asked my mother whether, if I jumped from a viaduct, I would be dead. I’ve been struggling with this my whole life.”
Now, we hand them a prescription for as- sisted suicide.
Two young women in the Netherlands, Jolanda Fun and Zoraya ter Beek, have re- cently done media interviews explaining their respective decisions to pursue eu- thanasia, despite being physically healthy. Fun, who planned to end her life on her 34th birthday late last month, has strug- gled with depression for years. “Most of the
Meanwhile, ter Beek, 28, told The Free Press she plans to die by assisted suicide
this month. Ter Beek, who is autistic and suffers from depression, has a boyfriend she loves and with whom she shares a home and cats. Her psy- chiatrist told her, “There’s nothing more we can do for you. It’s never [going to] get any better,” ter Beek told The Free Press, saying those words trig- gered her decision to end her life. Ter Beek and Fun are not alone in their decisions. (So far, no media outlets have confirmed that either one has died.) In 2023, 138 Dutch people chose to end their lives because of psychiatric suffering, according to Spanish newspaper El Pais, which reported that represented a 20% increase from 2022. The trend is undeniably upward: The Netherlands had a mere two assisted suicide deaths for mental health reasons in 2010 and 68 in 2019, according to the Times. In general, euthanasia has grown in popularity in the Netherlands over the past two decades. More than 9,000 Dutch people chose euthanasia in 2023, reports El Pais, noting that euthanasia deaths made up more than 5% of all deaths in the Netherlands last year. Canada — which initially legalized assisted suicide in 2016 for those with terminal illnesses and later for those with a “grievous and irremediable medical condition” — is similarly experiencing an upward trend. Over 13,000 Canadians died by assisted suicide in 2022, a 31% jump from the 2021 numbers. In 2017, the first full year assisted suicide was legal in Canada, 2,838 people chose to die that way. Canada was slated to further follow in the Netherlands’ path and allow assisted suicide for mental health reasons this year, but due to concerns over straining the medical system, it has postponed that to March 17, 2027.
time I just feel really ____,” she told The Times, a British newspaper, in an interview published April 14. “Sad, down, gloomy. People don’t see it, be- cause that’s the mask I put on, and that’s what you learn to do in life.”
In the Netherlands, euthanasia has been legal since 2002. (The legislation passed in 2001, and went into effect the next year.) Fun started exploring
If you value life, you should be worried.
Already in the United States, 10 states and the District of Columbia allow assisted suicide under certain circumstances. If mental health con- tinues to deteriorate in the U.S., as unfortunately seems likely, we could well face advocacy for allowing suicide for the mentally ill. Of course, mental illness is a “real” illness, and its suffering can be acute. But there is a reason we fight so hard against suicide, try to help and encourage and to provide medical assistance to Americans who struggle with depression and anxiety and other mental illnesses. Not only do we love them, and want them to remain in our lives, but we also know that as long as someone is alive, there is hope — hope that he or she might heal, fully or partially, from mental illness and be able to live life more joyfully, less burdened by rapacious negative emotions. That belief is hard to hold when you are struggling with depression, mak- ing it all the more critical that the non-depressed in society vociferously advocate for the value of life.
Continued on Page 45
Subscribe to Wisconsin Christian News! INFORMATION • EDUCATION • INSPIRATION If you appreciate this newspaper and the ministry of Wisconsin Christian News , please consider ordering a subscription today! Not JUST for Wisconsin — We’re a NATIONAL Christian newspaper! ONE YEAR, PRINT ONLY: $35 • TWO YEARS, PRINT ONLY: $60
1 YEAR, ONLINE MEMBERSHIP: $35 • 2 YEARS, ONLINE MEMBERSHIP: $60 ONE YEAR, ONLINE AND PRINT: $45 • TWO YEARS, ONLINE AND PRINT: $70 Order by mail: (Order form on P age 2), OR Send name & address to: Wisconsin Christian News • 225780 Rib Mountain Dr., #229 • Wausau, WI 54401 Order on our Website: WisconsinChristianNews.com//Subscribe.php (NOTE: We D O also need your phone number AN D email for online subscriptions)
Made with FlippingBook Converter PDF to HTML5