Wesley J. Smith

Wonder of wonders, Wyoming has stepped up to the plate to outlaw assisted suicide. From HB 120 (no link): (a) A person who has knowledge that another person intends to commit or attempt to commit suicide and who does either of the following with the intention of enabling or facilitating the suicide . . . . Continue Reading »

Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson has written an important column that shows how Left Wing politics has apparently interfered with the fight against AIDS in Africa.From the column:During Obama’s transition, Dr. Mark Dybul was initially asked to stay on as the coordinator of the . . . . Continue Reading »

You’ve read about it, now hear my analysis of the Montana court case creating a constitutional right to “die with dignity.” As I state, it is the first time of which I am aware in which an advocacy slogan (“death with dignity”) was elevated into a constitutional . . . . Continue Reading »

The attempt to increase the organ donation pool has led to an increased use in “heart death” procurement protocols, known as “non heart-beating cadaver donors.” Under what has been called the Pittsburgh Protocol, obtaining organs via this method involves, 1) Planned removal . . . . Continue Reading »

Two states have had assisted suicide bills introduced; Hawaii and New Hampshire. Hawaii’s law requires a suicide “monitor” to be present at the death—which in practice would often be an assisted suicide ideologue, such as the “counselors” who work with Compassion . . . . Continue Reading »

A correspondent—who is a disability rights activist—alerted me to SB 1142, a proposal in Virginia to overhaul its law concerning advance directives. There are several things in the bill that concern me, but she wrote worrying that it would open the door to experimenting on the . . . . Continue Reading »

An unusual situation has arisen in Australia involving an ethical complication arising out of IVF. A woman and her fiance` created embryos via IVF. She was impregnated but then died in an auto crash. Now the grandmother of the remaining embryos may sue to prevent the father from bringing his . . . . Continue Reading »

The book War Against the Weak is the best history of the eugenics movement ever written. (Here is my take that appeared in National Review.) Now, there is a new documentary about to be released—War Against the Weak—The Movie. (Hit this link to see a trailerFor SHSers in Southern . . . . Continue Reading »

I was pleased to have been interviewed by Daniel Herbster for AdvanceUSA about my views on bioethics and human exceptionalism. I thought I would post a few exerpts here, along with the link, for anyone interested in reading the whole thing. First, I was asked why bioethical issues are so important. . . . . Continue Reading »

An op/ed in today’s Baltimore Sun has two doctors insisting that physicians refer patients for abortions if they don’t wish to do the deed themselves. (The term used is reproductive health, and so it isn’t only abortion to which they refer—but it is part of what is meant by . . . . Continue Reading »