ARCHBISHOP John Bathersby of Brisbane has welcomed a decision by a Gold Coast cancer sufferer, at the centre of a euthanasia bid, to give palliative care one last go.
Nancy Crick, 69, who has bowel cancer, decided to postpone her decision to commit euthanasia on March 27, after announcing at a Gold Coast public meeting organised by pro-euthanasia advocates, that she intended to take her life on April 10 in the presence of 20 supporters.
Archbishop Bathersby said he was delighted by Mrs Crick’s decision to seek palliative care.
‘Respect for human life is the very foundation of civilisation,’ he said.
‘As soon as we argue for the deliberate termination of human life, whether we are discussing abortion, capital punishment or euthanasia, even by our own hand, we diminish ourselves as a people and open the way for further erosion of values.
Archbishop Bathersby urged Catholics and all people of goodwill ‘to realise clearly the critical importance of the issues being discussed at present and to do everything in their power to support traditional values, which are needed today more than ever’.
Queensland Right to Life president, Dr Donna Purcell, accused pro-euthanasia advocate Dr Philip Nitschke of using Mrs Crick’s case to further his campaign.
