Wesley J. Smith

This Tuesday, Massachusetts voters will decide whether to legalize assisted suicide, an agenda against which I have advocated energetically since 1993. During much of that time, I often asked myself the “why now?” question: Two hundred years ago, when far more people died in agony, few argued on behalf of mercy killing. Yet today”a time in which medical science can substantially alleviate most pain and end-of-life care works miracles of palliation”the notion that a “good death” comes from committing suicide resonates with large swaths of the public… . Continue Reading »

First there were “animal rights.” Now, the next logical step is being taken by increasingly mainstream environmental radicals. Watch out: Here come “nature rights.” Doubt anyone would pass laws actually giving “rights” to “nature?” They are already being enacted: New Zealand has granted the Whanganui River the rights of “personhood,” declaring it to be an “integrated, living whole” possessing “rights and interests” … Continue Reading »

Not too long ago, the ethics of medicine were pretty straightforward. Inspired by the Hippocratic Oath, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and other medical professionals generally followed the “do no harm” maxim, seeing themselves (ideally) as duty-bound to protect and preserve all human life… . Continue Reading »

Update: There remain a few lingering tech issues over at NRO that need to be resolved before the new blog goes live.  As soon as they are solved, we will do a redirect so that anyone who comes here, will automatically be sent there.  Thanks for all the kind words I have received.  . . . . Continue Reading »

This better not be true: A lawsuit filed in Manhattan accuses an organ collecting organization of pressuring doctors to declare dead and harvest.  From the New York Post story:The New York Organ Donor Network pressured hospital staffers to declare patients brain dead so their body parts could . . . . Continue Reading »

Transhumanists keep looking for ways to radically extend their lives. I keep telling them it is a fool’s errand, but they persist.  So, in the spirit of comity, I present a report in the Telegraph that could show male transhumanists now to gain a few extra decades. From the . . . . Continue Reading »

I have noted often that creating the abortion license also led to a perceived fundamental right to not only have a baby, but the baby one wants.  And some have said I was nuts, but can there be any real doubt that abortion  helped turn procreation into a consumer . . . . Continue Reading »

This is soooo unsurprising: Wathdog David Jensen, author of the stellar California Stem Cell Report blog, discloses that California Institute of Regenerative Medicine has doled over a billion of Californians’ borrowed money to recipients affiated with its directors.  . . . . Continue Reading »

I have a piece out in the Weekly Standard that I think nails the Obama agenda of “fundamental transformation.”  From, “Power Grab:”To paraphrase Freud: Liberals, what do they really want? Not the communism or socialism of the right’s fever dreams. They know that . . . . Continue Reading »

Apropos my On the Square column today, a report notes that more people die from suicide in the USA than from car crashes.  From the Healthday story:More Americans now commit suicide than die in car crashes, making suicide the leading cause of injury deaths, according to a new study... . . . . Continue Reading »